Strengthening Pacific Media Capacity to Identify and Counter Disinformation

The U.S. Embassy of New Zealand Public Diplomacy Section (PDS) of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations and individuals s to submit applications to carry out projects that will strengthen media capacity, provide media training, and/or provide substantive benefit to media networks in New Zealand and the Pacific by increasing and refining their ability to provide independent, accurate, and fair coverage of topics of importance to the Pacific to their audiences in New Zealand and the Pacific nations. Priority Region: New Zealand and the Pacific. Program Objectives: This funding opportunity aligns with the United States’ goal to strengthen democratic institutions, protect human rights, and accelerate the fight against disinformation. The second Summit for Democracy affirmed the commitment of the U.S. Government to support free and independent media around the world. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. One of the key purposes of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy’s “Democratic Roadmap; Building Civic resilience to the Global Digital Information Manipulation Challenge” is to recognize that building information integrity can be consistent with freedom of opinion and expression. The Roadmap states, “access to fact-based information is essential for citizens to form opinions and exercise their rights,” a fundamental principle of democracy. Without access to fair and balanced media coverage, which starts with a resilient and informed media with the capacity to identify and counter disinformation, the democratic values that we share with our neighbors in the Pacific region will be at risk. This Funding Opportunity aims to provide assistance to organizations and/or individuals committed to the ideals of a media free from interference from outside sources of any kind.