The Tow Center for Digital Journalism (TCDJ) is part of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and was initially endowed by the Tow Foundation with $5 million. ^{1 2} TCDJ claims it was founded to research, communicate, and teach the impacts of technological developments on journalistic practices. ³

Background

The Tow Center for Digital Journalism was endowed in 2010 by the Tow Foundation with $5 million. ² The mission of TCDJ is to educate journalists as part of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and to research and communicate new techniques to navigate the intersection of technology and journalism. ¹

TCDJ researches new ways to approach digital journalism. According to TCDJ, the field of journalism demands “professional intervention and standards” to confront novel “complexities,” which TCDJ sees as its mission to help set. ⁴

The Tow Foundation is a left-of-center private grantmaking foundation that specializes in areas such as artistic enterprises, medical research, higher education, and civic engagement. The Tow Foundation also runs programs centered on the critical race theory-influenced concept of “equity,” which include “investing at the policy-change level” to end “mass incarceration” and “mass criminalization.” ^{5 6}

Activities

The Tow Center for Digital Journalism develops research on technology and journalism, including the impact of social media and AI on the field of journalism. TCDJ also hosts events on topics related to journalism and technology, and oversees the master of science program in computer science and journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. ^{7 4}

In 2016, TCDJ began a multi-year research program entitled “Platforms and Publishers.” This program focused primarily on the intersection of journalism and developing technologies such as artificial intelligence and social media. One aspect of the research program included tracking how the Meta Journalism Project funded news outlets and analyzing the impact of these donations. TCDJ remarked in the report that Meta’s funding was obscure and hard to trace, however it noted that its research found nearly $30 million in funding to 559 different news outlets. TCDJ noted that COVID-19-related media grants in 2020 made a substantial portion of Meta’s overall funding to media outlets, totaling over $16 million. TCDJ also noted that large outlets such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal received a combined $53.5 million annually in partnerships with Meta. ⁸

Funding

The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism has received over $10 million from the Tow Foundation since 2010. Grants from the Tow Foundation include $5 million in 2010 to help establish the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, and $2.5 million in 202o to endow the Leonard Tow Journalism Professorship, a professorship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism that holds the directorship of TCDJ. The first recipient of the Leonard Tow Journalism Professorship was Emily Bell, the founding director of TCDJ.  ²

The John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation gave $300,000 in support of TCDJ in 2023, $300,000 in 2022, and $600,000 in 2021.  ^{9 10 11}

TCDJ has received $340,000 in support from the Ford Foundation, including a $240,000 grant in 2021. ¹²

In 2016, TCDJ received $200,000 from the Foundation to Promote Open Society.  ¹³

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation gave $1 million to TCDJ in 2016, and $3 million in 2014. ^{14 15}

Other funders of TCDJ include the NoVo Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. ¹⁶

People

Emily Bell is the founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and the current Leonard Tow professor of journalism at Columbia University. Previously, Bell worked at The Guardian, a British-based news outlet, including as “editor-in-chief across Guardian websites and director of digital content for Guardian News and Media.” Bell sits on the “board of the Scott Trust, the owners of The Guardian,” the Columbia Journalism Review’s board of overseers, and is chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on social media, according to her Tow Center biography. ¹⁷

1. Tow center. Accessed December 27, 2024. https://towcenter.columbia.edu.
2. “Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.” The Tow Foundation, July 5, 2022. https://www.towfoundation.org/grantee/columbia-university-graduate-school-of-journalism/?grant_keyword=Tow%2BCenter%2Bfor%2BDigital%2BJournalism%2B&grant_meta_grant_status=&sort_order=recipient_name-asc.
3. Mission | tow center. Accessed December 27, 2024. https://towcenter.columbia.edu/content/mission.
4. Mission | tow center. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://towcenter.columbia.edu/content/mission.
5. “Our Approach.” The Tow Foundation, August 28, 2023. https://www.towfoundation.org/impact-areas/our-approach/.
6. “Equity and Justice.” The Tow Foundation, May 16, 2024. https://www.towfoundation.org/impact-areas/equity-and-justice/.
7. Events – tow center for digital journalism. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://towcenter.columbia.edu/content/events.
8. “Where Did Facebook’s Funding for Journalism Really Go?” Columbia Journalism Review. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/how-meta-funded-journalism.php.
9. “John D. and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation,” Return of Private Foundation Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990 PF) 2023. Page 11 Part XIV.
10. “John D. and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation,” Return of Private Foundation Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990 PF) 2022. Page 11 Part XIV.
11. “John D. and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation,” Return of Private Foundation Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990 PF) 2021. Page 11 Part XIV.
12. “Grants Database.” Ford Foundation. Accessed December 28, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=Tow%2BCenter%2Bfor%2BDigital%2BJournalism.
13. “The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.” Foundation to Promote Open Society. Accessed December 28, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?grant_id=OR2016-29978
14. “John S. and James L. Knight Foundation,” Return of Private Foundation Exempt From Income Tax (From 990 PF) 2016. Page 11 Part XIV.
15. “John S. and James L. Knight Foundation,” Return of Private Foundation Exempt From Income Tax (From 990 PF) 2014. Page 11 Part XIV.
16. Our funders – tow center for digital journalism. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://towcenter.columbia.edu/content/our-funders.
17. Emily Bell | Tow Center. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://towcenter.columbia.edu/content/emily-bell.