Columbia University in the City of New York, Graduate School of Journalism

The Tow Center for Digital Journalism (Tow Center), housed within the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, explores the ways in which technology is changing journalism, its practice and consumption. Established in 2010, the Center commissions research and develops teaching methods and courses to help advance practice in the field and to influence policy debate. With an interdisciplinary group of academics and researchers, the Tow Center is using this flexible support grant to explore the ways in which new technologies, including artificial intelligence, are influencing the quality of news, the public’s trust of news institutions, and the impact of policy interventions on the free flow of quality news and information. The goal of this work is to create a new future for journalism – one that is based on a new set of ethics, norms, and institutions designed to support a free and independent press in a technology-enabled media ecosystem.

The Columbia Journalism Review monitors the press and tracks the ongoing evolution of the media business. Its magazine, which is published six times a year, offers a mix of reporting, analysis, and commentary, and the CJR.org website hosts a daily conversation among working journalists and media practitioners about important issues affecting the field. This grant supports a project to examine the news and information consumption habits of young adults (age 18-35) and how their preferences will affect the media industry in the future.

To study the online distribution efforts of magazines.

In support of the National Arts Journalism Program.

To support expanded international coverage by "Columbia Journalism Review" (over two years).