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PolitiFact Michigan partnership wins Report for America support

By PolitiFact Staff December 2, 2019

PolitiFact Michigan will launch next summer, thanks to an innovative partnership between PolitiFact and the Detroit Free Press supported by Report for America. 

Report for America places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities. One of these journalists will be placed in the Free Press newsroom, trained by PolitiFact to fact-check the 2020 election and local Michigan issues. 

"We're excited to partner with the Free Press to bring PolitiFact to Michigan, a critical swing state, for the first time," said PolitiFact Editor Angie Drobnic Holan. "We intend to fact-check the messaging of the presidential election, as well as the race for U.S. Senate. We're also looking forward to fact-checking local issues in Michigan the way our other long-standing state affiliates do."

Journalists can apply for the positions at reportforamerica.org. The deadline to apply is Jan. 31. Report for America accepts applications and then works with newsrooms to select reporters, who will start in June 2020.  Journalists selected through the program usually have three to six years of experience. 

Next year, Report for America will fund 250 positions at 164 newsrooms. In addition to the PolitiFact Michigan position, the Detroit Free Press will receive support for two more local reporting projects.

"Report for America has shown a great commitment to local newsrooms. We’re thrilled with their support for three positions in the Free Press newsroom. We're excited to see how adding more journalists to the ranks of Michigan news organizations will improve coverage and increase accountability," said Detroit Free Press Editor and Vice President Peter Bhatia. 

Report for America funds up to $20,000 of a year-long reporting position. Newsrooms fund the rest of the journalist's salary through a combination of internal funding and local donors. To support PolitiFact Michigan, click here and note that you’re donating because of PolitiFact

Report for America is a national effort by The GroundTruth Project, a Boston-based nonprofit news organization that supports emerging journalists around the world. Program funders include the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Facebook Journalism Project, the Google News Initiative and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

"RFA is about serving these communities and helping to restore the pipeline for a new generation of journalists," said Charles Sennott, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The GroundTruth Project. "We understand our program may not fix all that is broken in local journalism, but we are honored to be part of a wider community directly confronting the crisis and doing everything we can to restore journalism from the ground up."   

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PolitiFact Michigan partnership wins Report for America support