Over 37 years, ICFJ has provided more than 150,000 journalists from 180 countries with valuable programs and resources. But we’ve never had a year like 2020.

The pandemic that raged across the globe would have been much worse if journalists had not fulfilled their vital role of providing audiences with accurate, lifesaving news, and doing it while combating the spread of false information.

We at ICFJ are doing our best to help journalists better cover the story of the century. At the onset of COVID-19, we galvanized quickly to help them gain access to top epidemiologists and health practitioners, to the world’s best trainers in digital journalism techniques, and to disinformation and media sustainability experts. As you’ll see below, tens of thousands of journalists are benefiting from that effort.

In other ICFJ programs, investigative journalists in our networks are collaborating to uncover corruption by those seeking to get rich from the pandemic. Pioneers in media innovation are creating new data and social media tools to help journalists tell the stories of COVID-19 better. And sustainability experts are helping news outlets improve the bottom line in a time when economic and political forces threaten to shut down independent voices.

Our motto is "It Takes a Journalist." Whether the story is a global pandemic, racial injustice, climate change or government malfeasance, it takes a journalist to bring the public factual information that can mean the difference between life and death. And whatever the story, ICFJ will be there to support and empower the journalists who are helping make our world a better place.

Joyce Barnathan, President