Ethics Center Awarded $100K from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to Fund ‘Keeping Issues in the News’

The Ethics Center proudly announces the receipt of a $100,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to help digital media outlets and aggregators prioritize and elevate stories affecting our most vulnerable populations. The grant supports the Journalism and Media Ethics program initiative, Keeping Issues in the News (KIN), which will collaboratively develop recommended practices for digital news media and social platforms to keep ongoing issues—those that affect the most vulnerable people—in the news.

KIN will bring together journalists, journalism educators, news distribution product teams, and thought leaders in ethnic and community media to develop ethical practices and considerations for reporters, editors, and news distribution platforms.

“Hunger, homelessness, and public health risks due to COVID-19 are all rising across the United States, and news and social media are crucial for ensuring that people recognize these trends and are aware of what they can do to help remedy them,” said Don Heider, executive director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. “News outlets can and should keep ongoing issues that affect the most vulnerable people in the news—beyond occasional events or holidays.”

“Some days we see news of major impact to our lives, ongoing issues, which disappear from the news cycle the next day, even though the impact is ongoing,” said Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and Craig Newmark Philanthropies. “KIN helps solve that by keeping a focus on news that matters.”

The Ethics Center’s Journalism and Media Ethics program is also supported by Democracy Fund, Google News Initiative, the Markkula Foundation, and Facebook Research.