Data-Driven Journalism Program in Western Hemisphere

The United States has an opportunity to support partner nations who maintain official relations with Taiwan by addressing this information gap through journalist training that builds investigative skills to reinforce fact-based reporting, journalistic capabilities, and base knowledge about PRC economic practices. Such economic practices include those related to the environment, infrastructure projects, labor practices, compliance with good governance and human rights principles, etc. At the same time, an opportunity exists to strengthen journalists’ resilience to manipulation of information ecosystems and to harassment or other pressure that discourages them from publishing factual content.

Program Objectives and Goals

• In the Western Hemisphere, seven countries maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Publics in these countries thus have less frequent exposure to information about how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) relates to countries with which it maintains official relations. Likewise, journalists have fewer opportunities to develop expertise on the PRC and its relations with other countries, leaving them and the publics they serve relatively more vulnerable to misconceptions and disinformation on related topics. Many publics in Taiwan-recognizing countries maintain idealized views of the benefits that switching to official relations with the PRC would bring.
• The goal of this award is to improve access to accurate information in Western Hemisphere Taiwan-recognizing countries about the full impact of diplomatic relations with (in particular, switching to diplomatic relations with) the PRC. This will be undertaken by creating or increasing the capacity and regional connectivity of journalists in these countries to conduct fact-based, policy-relevant, and locally tailored reporting on the PRC and it and its companies’ relations with Latin America and the Caribbean and by empowering journalists to identify and expose disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda and networking among journalists that will strengthen peer-support and information sharing that will contribute to reporting of regional trends of PRC activities. Objectives subordinate to this goal include:
  • Increase base knowledge of journalists about PRC economic and information activity in the Latin America and Caribbean region.
  • Improve journalists’ capacity to find and analyze data related to PRC economic and information activity in Latin America and the Caribbean and convert it to publicly digestible information relevant for local decision-makers and publics.
  • Create regional connectivity among journalists in Western Hemisphere Taiwan recognizing countries and with their counterparts in PRC-recognizing countries to facilitate cross-border reporting about the PRC and PRC-linked companies.
  • Increase journalists’ digital security through knowledge of best practices and tools to counter online threats.

Funding Information

• Total available funding: $475,000
• Award amounts: awards may range from a minimum of $450,000 to a maximum of $475,000
• Number of awards anticipated: 1 award
• Length of performance period: 20 to 24 months

Program Activities 

• It is recommended that the program include at least the following activities:
  • An in-person training workshop for journalists from participating countries that includes content on:
    • PRC foreign policy goals and strategies, including economic and information strategies and tools typically used to achieve its foreign policy goals.
    • Assessment of fulfillment of promises used to attract countries to change their recognition from Taiwan to the PRC.
    • Data sources, data analysis, and use of data in audience-relevant reporting related to PRC behavior in Latin America.
  • Training for journalists on digital security best practices and tools and detecting and responding to disinformation and manipulative social media techniques.
  • A support mechanism for journalists in their home countries as they conduct research and develop stories about the PRC and Taiwan in the region/in their own countries.
  • A study tour in a PRC-recognizing country in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Target Audience

• Target audience for this program is journalists from online, print, radio, or TV news outlets in Paraguay, Guatemala, Belize, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Those who have a publication format that facilitates investigative news reporting are preferred.
• Every effort should be made to include a balanced representation of journalists across the spectrum of political (or other) alignment in each country.
• Target participation numbers for each country are:
  • Paraguay: 8
  • Guatemala: 8
  • Belize: 5
  • St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines: 4

Eligibility Criteria                                                     

• The following organizations are eligible to apply:
  • U.S. or foreign not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations.
  • U.S. or foreign public and private educational institutions.
  • U.S. or foreign for-profit organizations Individuals are not eligible to apply.
• Individuals are not eligible to apply.
• In order to be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number.
• Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.