Tow Center for Digital Journalism

Tow Center for Digital Journalism
Name	Tow Center for Digital Journalism
Formation	2012
Type	Research center
Location	Columbia University, New York City
Leader title	Director
Leader name	Jonathan Sterne
Parent organization	Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Tow Center for Digital Journalism is an academic research center at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism focused on the intersection of technology, media, and reporting. The center studies digital tools, data practices, newsroom innovation, and the transformation of The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC News, The Guardian (2013–present), and other major outlets. It convenes scholars, journalists, and technologists from institutions such as Knight Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Mozilla to investigate changes in journalism.

History

Founded in 2012 with support from the Tow Foundation, the center emerged amid debates involving The Pew Research Center, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Foundation, and American Press Institute about digital disruption. Early staff and affiliates included figures associated with ProPublica, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, Vox Media, and Politico, while advisory input drew on scholars from Columbia University, New York University, Harvard University, MIT Media Lab, and Stanford University. The center has hosted conferences alongside Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, and Knight Foundation grantees and has responded to events such as the rise of Twitter, the Cambridge Analytica controversy linked to Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, and debates over algorithmic transparency involving YouTube and Google.

Mission and Research Focus

The center's stated mission aligns with agendas pursued by Open Society Foundations and research programs at Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism: to document how digital technologies affect practices at outlets like NBC News, CNN, Al Jazeera English, Reuters, Associated Press, and Bloomberg News. Research topics include algorithmic curation in platforms such as Facebook News Feed and Twitter (X), misinformation tied to events like the 2016 United States presidential election and the 2016 Brexit referendum, data journalism techniques used by ProPublica and FiveThirtyEight, and newsroom automation explored by teams at Automated Insights and Narrative Science. Affiliates study ethics frameworks shaped by Society of Professional Journalists and regulatory contexts involving laws like Digital Millennium Copyright Act and debates in bodies such as the Federal Communications Commission.

Programs and Projects

Programs have included fellowships that place researchers in institutions including The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Politico Europe, and BuzzFeed News. Project work has examined fact-checking practices at PolitiFact, community moderation at Reddit, and verification workflows using tools from Mozilla and Wikimedia Foundation. Notable projects analyzed the impact of platform policies by Facebook, the role of content distribution on Apple News, and visualization methods reminiscent of work from The New York Times Graphics Department and The Guardian Data Blog. Workshops have featured practitioners from StoryCorps, Committee to Protect Journalists, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and technologists from GitHub and Stripe.

Publications and Reports

The center publishes reports and white papers comparable to outputs from Pew Research Center, Reuters Institute, and Tow Center affiliates have authored pieces for Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Lab, Journalism Studies, and Digital Journalism. Reports have addressed topics such as platform-driven audience metrics similar to analyses by Chartbeat, newsroom revenue models examined by American Press Institute, and investigative data methods used in collaborations with ProPublica and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The center's publications have been cited alongside work from Harvard Kennedy School, MIT Center for Civic Media, and think tanks like Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.

Partnerships and Collaborations

Collaborations span academic partners like New York University, Princeton University, Yale University, and University of Oxford and media partners including The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Al Jazeera, ProPublica, BuzzFeed, Vox, Quartz, and Vice Media. The center has engaged with funders and initiatives such as Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and tech partners including Google News Initiative and Microsoft Research. It has co-hosted events with organizations like Data & Society Research Institute, Tow Center alumni networks, Columbia Global Centers, International Center for Journalists, and policy discussions involving the European Commission and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Funding and Governance

Funding sources include philanthropic grants from the Tow Foundation, project support from Knight Foundation and Ford Foundation, and commissioning from corporate partners such as Google and Microsoft. Governance is administered within the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism with oversight by faculty affiliated with departments across Columbia University, advisory input from journalists at The New York Times and The Washington Post, and collaborations with centers like Columbia Institute for Data Sciences.

Category:Columbia University institutes and centers