‘PBS NewsHour,’ KQED win funding to combat misinformation

Two public media organizations are getting funding to develop ideas for fighting the spread of fake news.

KQED in San Francisco and PBS NewsHour are among 20 recipients sharing $1 million awarded by the Knight Prototype Fund in grants announced Thursday. PBS NewsHour will team up with Miles O’Brien Productions to develop NewsTracker.org, which will “help journalists and others better understand the scale, scope and shape of the misinformation problem,” according to a press release.

KQED is developing KQED Learn, a project that will provide teachers and students with an online platform to help children ask critical questions and investigate answers.

City Bureau, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago, also won funding for a project to train citizens about journalism ethics and tools through public events and online resources.

“The winning organizations and ideas use technology innovation as a tool to help advance a healthy news ecosystem,” said John S. Bracken, Knight Foundation vice president for technology innovation, in a press release. “Through them, we hope to gain a better understanding of people’s behaviors and motivations in consuming and sharing news and information.”

The winning teams will have nine months to develop their ideas and will share prototypes at a demo day with other winners.