Call for Applications: Truth Decay Grant Initiative

They’re also interested in journalistic approaches to identifying and addressing the scourge of scientific misinformation and disinformation.

The goal of this new initiative is two-fold:

• to expose the purveyors and platforms that spread science misinformation and disinformation with accountability journalism; and
• to support newsrooms and journalists to develop their own innovative responses to the spread of mistruths in their communities or countries.

They are eager to receive proposals that explore

• How and why scientific misinformation and pseudoscience spreads and the role journalists play in exposing and countering it;
• The challenges of reporting on science with non-stop news cycles, science disinformation campaigns, and increasingly fragmented and siloed audiences;
• Who is creating the science misinformation and who is benefiting from its creation, and what forces or organizations are enabling the flows of anti-science “studies” and misinformation to circulate;
• Unique and different perspectives on pseudoscience and misinformation in mass media and society;
• This is a pilot initiative, so please propose ideas related to science and misinformation that most resonate with your audiences and communities today.

Eligibility Criteria

• This opportunity is open to U.S. residents and journalists around the world.
• Grants are open to all journalists: writers, photographers, radio producers, and filmmakers; staff journalists as well as freelancers.
• They want to make sure that people from many backgrounds and perspectives are empowered to produce journalism.
• They strongly encourage proposals from journalists and newsrooms who represent a broad array of social, racial, ethnic, underrepresented groups, and economic backgrounds.
• They support veteran reporters who have been widely published, but also back younger applicants who are looking for help to jumpstart their careers. A diversity of voices— gender, ethnicities, backgrounds and nationalities—is important to them.
• They also encourage potential grantees to bring them proposals with their most creative and innovative solutions for reaching new audiences with small, targeted packages of their reporting on a variety of platforms such as Instagram or TikTok, or anywhere your audience exists.

Ineligible

• Examples of editorial products or project expenses that the Pulitzer Center grants don’t cover:
  • Books (they can support a story that might become part of a book, as long as the story is published independently in a media outlet).
  • Feature-length films (they do support short documentaries with ambitious distribution plans).
  • Staff salaries.
  • Equipment purchases (equipment rentals are considered on a case-by-case basis).
  • An outlet’s general expenses (for example rent, utilities, insurance).
  • Seed money for start-ups.
  • Routine breaking news and coverage.
  • Advocacy/marketing campaigns.
  • Data projects aimed solely at academic research. Data should be developed to enhance/support journalism.

For more information, visit Pulitzer Center.