Projor Launches Innovation Fund for Combating Online Disinformation
The fund, supported by the Google News Initiative, has granted up to R$ 100,000 and provide mentorship from specialized experts to innovative projects from journalistic organizations.
On Tuesday, December 5, 2024 Projor – Institute for the Development of Journalism – is launching the Codesinfo – Innovation Fund for Combating Online Disinformation, with support from the Google News Initiative. The program aims to encourage and enable the development of innovative solutions proposed by journalistic organizations that contribute to reducing the effects of online disinformation in Brazil.
Selected projects will have access to specialized mentors and have received financial support of up to 100,000 reais. Applications were be submitted by legally established news outlets headquartered in Brazil and listed in the Atlas da Notícia, Projor’s census that maps the presence of local journalism in the country. Media outlets could participate individually or collaboratively with other journalistic organizations, journalist collectives, developers, and researchers.
Applications could be submitted until January 29, 2024, via the Codesinfo website. In their application, media outlets must describe their project, explain how it will contribute to combating online disinformation in Brazil, present a seven-month execution timeline, provide a basic budget for the project, and outline a plan for sharing the project’s results with the Brazilian journalistic ecosystem.
According to Projor’s president, Sérgio Lüdtke, this was one of Codesinfo’s key innovations. “We want to encourage the sharing of results with the community of journalists, communication researchers, and news organizations to foster a more collaborative environment and a diversity of models to combat disinformation in the country.”
According to Marco Túlio Pires, Head of Google News Lab in Brazil, “Fighting online disinformation is a challenge that must be tackled through a multi-sector approach, bringing together efforts from technology companies, the third sector, governments, and news organizations. Codesinfo takes another step in this direction by fostering knowledge exchange and strengthening Brazil’s online information ecosystem.”
The program’s regulations, FAQ, application form, contact points, and additional information are available on the Codesinfo website.
Projor – Institute for the Development of Journalism – is a nonprofit, non-governmental, non-corporate, pluralistic, and nonpartisan civil organization. It was founded in April 2002 by journalist Alberto Dines in partnership with Labjor at Unicamp. Based in São Paulo, its primary objective is to strengthen journalism in Brazil. Among its most well-known projects are the Observatório da Imprensa and the Atlas da Notícia.
