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AP to enhance fact checks with $245,000 from Knight

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press is joining with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to expand its fact-checking efforts and ability to debunk misinformation.

Knight is granting $245,000 to enable the AP to experiment with new forms of storytelling for social media and mobile platforms and to use data and automation to better understand how consumers make decisions about what kinds of information to trust.

AP will also add additional full-time journalists dedicated to fact-checking. It also will integrate local news fact checks into APNews.com and the AP News app, and distribute it to its broad customer network.

“Fact-checking gets to the heart of AP’s news values, and we are more committed than ever to objective, fact-based reporting,” said AP Managing Editor Brian Carovillano. “The Knight Foundation clearly shares this commitment and we are thrilled to be working closely with them again on such an important initiative.”

The news cooperative will offer training, best practices and support for local or regional fact-checkers aiming to build trust at the local level, through its partnership with Associated Press Media Editors and beyond.

The project is one of seven receiving part of more than $2.5 million in new funding from the initiative spearheaded by the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy.

Karen Mahabir will lead AP’s global fact-check team. Mahabir rejoins AP from HuffPost, where she led breaking news coverage as managing editor for news.

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