News Literacy Project (NLP)

While the NLP claims to be nonpartisan, the media outlets and funders that support it have a broad left-of-center bias, leading to concerns that its materials have promoted questionable left-of-center positions as “fact” while characterizing mainstream right-of-center positions as “misinformation.” ^{1  2  3}

Background and History

News Literacy Project was founded in 2008 by former Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times reporter Alan C. Miller to train middle- and high-school teachers in “news literacy education,” which is broadly defined as coaching students to distinguish between fact, fiction, and opinion in the news media. ^{4  1}

In 2022, Miller stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by Charles “Chuck” Salter, who had worked the previous four years as the president and COO of NLP. ⁵ In his introductory letter to NLP stakeholders, Salter claimed that “American democracy is under attack,” blaming “merchants of chaos” who “sow doubt, confusion, fear and even anger and hatred among all of us.” ⁶

The News Literacy Project’s overarching message is that news consumers, especially teenagers, are wrong to hold negative or skeptical opinions about the quality of modern-day news coverage.  ^{7  8} Its leaders have characterized their efforts to restore broad faith in journalism as “a mission to save democracy.” ⁹

Activities

The News Literacy Project’s primary program is its Checkology classroom tool for grades 5-12 that it reports was used by more than 15,700 educators and 575,000 students across more than 4,800 school districts in 2025. ^{10  11}

It sponsors National News Literacy Week in partnership with the E.W. Scripps Company, USA Today, and the USA Today Network. ¹²

During the 2024 election cycle, NLP operated a Misinformation Dashboard, which linked to “fact checks” on third-party sites such as Politifact, Snopes, USA Today, Agence France-Presse, Lead Stories, Reuters, and other sites. ¹³

Bias Concerns

Although it claims to be nonpartisan, News Literacy Project adopts many of the left-of-center biases and priorities of the mainstream news media outlets that support it. NLP regularly uses the loaded term “denialists” to describe people who are skeptical about or disagree with left-of-center policies related to science-based topics such as climate change and vaccines where there is a left-of-center belief in scientific consensus. ^{14  3} One Checkology module on “Evaluating Science-Based Claims” includes a component encouraging students to “explore why people resist and deny science,” and it has described COVID-19 skeptics as “vaccine denialists.” ^{14  3}

Similarly, NLP warns educators and students against “misinformation,” a term it sometimes applies to good-faith policy disagreements. ¹⁵ For example, NLP branded those who do not agree with the left-of-center consensus on climate change as believers in “climate misinformation.”  ³

In 2022, NLP encouraged journalists, teachers, and students to refer to the California Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation’s list of “credible science sources” in performing or assessing science-based journalism.  ³

NLP also appears to allow left-of-center diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles to inform its curricula and positions on what is misinformation versus disagreement or personal opinion. ^{16  2}  It considers “diversity, equity and inclusion” as core organizational values, and promises to uphold them. ^{2  17}  In 2022, NLP president and CEO Chuck Salter wrote, “With regards to civil rights, as a member of the LGBT+ community, I’d say this is my most personal passion. Beyond simply allowing people to live their lives on equal terms with others, I don’t understand the hatred some people hold for others based on personal characteristics.” ¹⁸

X (formerly Twitter) Boycott

One potential sign of left-of-center bias within the News Literacy Project is decision to stop posting to X (formerly Twitter), a practice generally associated with left-of-center activists and advocacy organizations following the platform’s acquisition by Elon Musk, a prominent businessman who advised the second Trump administration. ¹⁹ As of February 2026, NLP was no longer posting on its 28,000-follower X account, with its most recent post made on April 23, 2025 listing its accounts on other social media platforms. ²⁰

Previously, it had posted fact checks, educational posts on satire, links to relevant news coverage, and other interactions with its audiences.  ²⁰ It remains active on the left-leaning micro-blogging platform BlueSky, where its account has 14,300 followers. ²¹

NLP president and CEO Charles Salter also stopped posting to his X account in November 2024, but remained active on BlueSky as of February 2026. ^{22  23}

In 2023, NLP’s “the year in disinformation” report criticized X’s policies under Musk, writing, “Following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in October 2022, the site underwent numerous changes that disinformation researchers and experts criticized as seemingly designed to help the spread of misinformation and make accurate claims more difficult to find.” ²⁴

Reports on Teen Media Opinions

In 2025, the News Literacy Project released a research report on teen media literacy and views of the media. It claimed to have found that 55 percent of teens believed journalists do more to protect than harm democracy, while 45 percent believed the opposite. ⁷

In November 2025, the NLP released a follow-up report on how teens view journalism in America.  ⁸ It claimed to have found a “shockingly bleak picture of how teens view and understand journalism and news media today,” noting that teens “believe that unethical behaviors, including corruption and lying, are more commonplace in the profession than adhering to the ideals and standards-based practices that are regarded as sacred and obligatory in legitimate newsrooms across the country.” ⁸

The report said that “An overwhelming majority of teens (84%) express a negative sentiment when asked what word best describes news media these days,” and “More teens believe journalists are skilled at lying and deceiving than informing the public,” while only 30 percent of teens believe that journalists “confirm facts before reporting them” and 23 percent “correct errors when they happen.”  ⁸

Funding

News Literacy Project has received donations from organizations including the MacArthur Foundation, Apple, Max and Victoria Foundation, News Corp, Tegna Foundation, Argosy Foundation, Dow Jones Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Fthree Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, and the Grable Foundation.  ^{25  26}

It has also received support from Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post, ²⁷ and California billionaire couple Melanie and Richard Lundquist. ²⁸

In December 2025, NLP was listed as one of 208 nonprofit groups that received funding from the People First AI Fund, a community investment initiative started by the OpenAI Foundation. ²⁹ $40.5 million was distributed to NLP and the other nonprofits from the OpenAI Foundation for the purpose of “working to strengthen local communities and expand the opportunity of AI.” ²⁹ However, that same month the NLP’s annual “misinformation year in review” post focused on the power of AI to create and promote deceptive or false information. ³⁰