NewseumED Receives Hearst Foundation Grant

The Freedom Forum Institute is pleased to announce that NewseumED, an education program that reaches millions of students through its robust offering of resources and classes that meet national standards of learning, is the recipient of a $250,000 grant from The Hearst Foundation.

The grant helps further NewseumED’s critical work in media literacy, which empowers students and educators to successfully navigate the contemporary media landscape.

NewseumED reaches more than 11 million students through its online educational resources, teaches more than 25,000 students and educators annually, and welcomes more than 200,000 students who visit each year onsite at the Newseum. Its classes, workshops and resources – which feature artifacts from the Newseum’s own collection – explore history, media literacy and civics, and help students and educators better understand the five freedoms of the First Amendment.

The Hearst Foundation’s gift makes possible three classes on press freedom and media literacy, as well as a workshop for educators on teaching media literacy. The classes and workshop will cover critical skills, including how to separate quality news sources from fake news and misinformation, how to gauge news sources’ credibility and authority, and how to distinguish between fact and opinion.

At a time when fake news is a growing national concern, and research is showing that most students have a poor ability to evaluate the information they see online, NewseumED’s offerings fill an increasingly important gap in education.

The Hearst Foundation was founded by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in 1945. In 1948 Hearst established the California Charities Foundations, later renamed The William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Both foundations are guided by the same charitable mission of supporting organizations working in culture, education, health and social services. Since inception, the foundations have made over 20,000 grants, totaling more than $1 billion.