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The impact is real, . Just check out our recently published 2021-2022 report ([link removed]) .
If you’re a numbers person, consider these stats from our work in 2021:
* 20 million views of digital media literacy content
* 10.5 million readers of poynter.org
* $3 million fact-checking grants awarded
* 55,187 journalists, educators and students from 163 countries served

If you’re a people person, Tammy Terwelp, president and chief executive officer of KUNC FM and The Colorado Sound, says Poynter’s “once in a lifetime” Digital Transformation Program with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is the “greatest gift” her station could have received.
Any way you see the impact, here’s what matters most:
Journalism’s role in democracy is stronger because caring individuals like you entrust Poynter to safeguard press freedom, elevate fact-based expression and promote meaningful public discourse.
Thank you for standing with Poynter.
Together, we can continue to:
Understand what it means for free speech when the world’s richest man buys one of the most popular social media platforms
The Twitter page of Elon Musk as of Monday, April 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, and the reactions are mixed. Poynter’s senior media writer Tom Jones asks the big question: What happens now? ([link removed])
The short answer: Conjecture, concern and changes.
“The biggest question many have is what Musk means when he advocates for free speech ([link removed]) ,” Jones writes. “While it’s an admirable sentiment, what does that look like on social media? Does that mean anything goes?”
For journalists and fact-checkers, anything — including conspiracy theories, propaganda, misinformation, harassment and hate speech — can’t go.
“We’ve seen what happens when Twitter users have unfettered access to say whatever they want: widespread belief in misinformation that threatens our democracy and public health,” says Jones.
With your support, Poynter can hold powerful people and social media giants like Twitter accountable for their role in public debate and protecting users against harmful misinformation. Thank you.

Keep an eye out for deceptively edited videos
A deepfake video, which went viral across social media and was even put onto a Ukrainian news website by hackers, appears to show the president of Ukraine commanding his soldiers to “lay down their weapons'' and surrender to Russian invaders. (MediaWise Teen Fact-Checking Network)
Misinformers are continuing to find new, creative ways to pollute our shared information ecosystem with dubious claims that can lead to serious global consequences. Poynter’s MediaWise and PolitiFact share tips to help you keep a sharp eye on what’s trending in your news feed.
First up, learn how to spot deepfakes ([link removed]) with Bella Otte from MediaWise’s Teen Fact-Checking Network.
“​​Deepfakes are videos of a person in which their face or body has been digitally manipulated to make it look like they said or did something they didn’t actually do,” she writes.
Second, pay attention ([link removed]) to how bad actors from opposing parties edit real images and footage to generate public outrage, push an underlying agenda or humiliate an elected official. PolitiFact staff writer Bill McCarthy says, “With basic software allowing amateurs to alter photos and slice up videos, and with social media making that content easier to disseminate, an increasing share of the supposedly embarrassing presidential moments going viral online are neither fully authentic nor totally faked.”
Your support empowers everyone — citizens and journalists alike — to do their part in elevating the truth with resources, training and analyses from Poynter’s digital media literacy and fact-checking enterprises. Thank you.
Take Poynter’s Write Fielders out to the ballgame
Poynter’s Write Fielders met sports analyst and former MLB player Xavier Scruggs at Tropicana Field on April 22, 2022. (Chris Zuppa)
Members of Poynter’s Write Field ([link removed]) and their families watched the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field on April 22. The program, now in its 11th year, has helped 300 young Hispanic and African American men from local middle and high schools achieve academic success. The students also polished their literacy skills with writing workshops, interviews with community leaders and mentorships with professional journalists.
While the participants cheered on the home team from a suite, they also had the exclusive opportunity to speak with local officials, Major League Baseball players and sports analysts.
Write Fielders interview St. Petersburg, Florida, mayor Ken Welch (center) at Tropicana Field on April 22, 2022. (Chris Zuppa)
Poynter thanks program’s leaders, Demorris Lee, public relations strategist at Hillsborough County Government, and Ernest Hooper, vice president of communications at United Way Suncoast. Write Field is made possible thanks to local sponsors including Rays Baseball Foundation, the City of St. Petersburg, Duke Energy, Suncoast Credit Union and Wells Fargo Foundation for their support of the Write Field program, as well as individual donors including M. Diane Hodson, PhD, JD, who has supported the program since its founding. Thank you!
Explore the history of fake news with fact-checkers
Join the Poynter Institute for a discussion on yellow journalism throughout the centuries in Tampa, Florida, on Friday, April 29, 2022. (Chris Kozlowski/Poynter)
Yellow journalism. Sensationalism. Fake news. In any form, false or misleading information can disrupt — or even dismantle — democracy, especially during times of crisis.
Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, PolitiFact senior correspondent Louis Jacobson looks back ([link removed]) at the media’s role in wartime reporting during the Spanish-American War and consults historians to compare and contrast today’s media landscape with that from 1898.
He writes, “The internet and social media are relatively new developments, but the media, in one form or another, have long played a role in communicating what is happening on overseas battlefields. And their role has not always been a constructive one.”
Want to learn more about the history of fake news? The Poynter Institute is hosting a conversation ([link removed]) about its imprint on democracy tomorrow, April 29, at the Henry B. Plant Museum in Tampa, Florida. Now’s your last chance to grab your ticket.

GET TICKETS ([link removed])
Proceeds from this fundraising event support Poynter’s work to safeguard press freedom in democracies worldwide. Special thanks to our sponsors the Frank E. Duckwall Foundation and the Tampa Bay Trust Company for making this event possible.
You might also like to:
• Pore over the words journalists use to describe controversial legislation ([link removed]) in a new NPR Public Editor column from Poynter senior vice president Kelly McBride.
• Join creators, consumers and champions of fact-based reporting online or in person at Global Fact 9 ([link removed]) , the world’s largest fact-checking summit hosted by Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network, June 22-25 in Oslo, Norway.
• Read this Q&A with MediaWise ([link removed]) to learn where they launched their latest digital media literacy course to help people tell fact from fiction online. (Hint: 🇪🇸)
• Customize your subscriptions ([link removed]) to have Poynter’s best media insights, updates and resources delivered to your inbox.
Thank you for being the heart of the matter
This newsletter comes to you from the staff at Poynter. Please consider making another meaningful contribution today ([link removed]) so we can keep you informed tomorrow.

Special thanks to our Poynter Foundation Board for their dedication to create opportunities through philanthropy
Brian P. Tierney, CEO, Brian Communications
Ramon Bosquez, President, The Bosquez Group, LLC
Michael Dreyer, President, The Tampa Bay Trust Company
Frank “Sandy” Rief III, Attorney, Allen Dell, Attorneys at Law
Michael Silver, Attorney, Shutts & Bowen LLP
and
Paul C. Tash, Chairman and CEO of the Times Publishing Company and Chairman of Poynter’s Board of Trustees

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