Military Times is partnering with Military Veterans in Journalism, fighting disinformation and extremism in the military, veteran communities

ARLINGTON, VA., January 6, 2023 – Military Veterans in Journalism (MVJ) announced today a new program designed to combat the spread of disinformation and extremism in veteran and military communities. Military Times will partner with MVJ on this project by providing trusted, detailed, investigative journalism on the issue.

A significant number of insurrectionists charged for their role in the siege had a military background, and after research has found that veterans and active-duty military members may make up at least 25% of militia rosters.

“Our team at Military Times is always looking for ways to improve our coverage and to better serve our community,” said Mike Gruss, editor in chief of Sightline Media, which owns Military Times and related publications. “We know the issue of extremism within the military and veteran community deserves in-depth coverage. We’re excited to get to work conducting reporting on these critical issues.”

With its new “Fighting Disinformation in Military & Veteran Communities” program, Military Times and Military Veterans in Journalism will build and support a reporting team to independently conduct investigative reporting on anti-democratic extremist groups that are targeting veterans and active-duty service members.

The program is supported by grants of $360,000 from the Knight Foundation, $100,000 from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, and $50,000 from the MacArthur Foundation. The funding will cover salaries for a team of three reporters, training, travel expenses, marketing, and project management. MVJ will partner with the Poynter Institute and their fact-checking arm, PolitiFact, to train the new reporting team on fact-checking and investigative best practices. The non-profit Task Force Butler will train the reporters on best practices for investigating extremist groups.

MVJ will also work with the University of Alabama’s Veterans and Media Lab to research the military and veteran community’s consumption of information and trust levels in media throughout the program. Further, MVJ will support in-person community engagement efforts by the We the Veterans coalition and the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland. Both groups aim to introduce solutions to help veterans spot extremist narratives in their day-to-day lives.

***

ABOUT MILITARY TIMES

Service members and their families rely on MilitaryTimes.com as a trusted, independent source for news and information on the most important issues affecting their careers and personal lives including, branch updates, financial services, pay and benefits, healthcare, education, transition resources, and more. MilitaryTimes.com is a part of the Sightline Media Group who also owns Army Times, Marine Corps Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, Federal Times, Defense News, and C4ISRNET.

ABOUT MILITARY VETERANS IN JOURNALISM

Military Veterans in Journalism’s mission is simple: get more military veterans working in America’s newsrooms. The United States has been at war for more than 18 years at a cost of more than 7,000 lives, about 50,000 wounded and billions in tax dollars. Yet military veterans are vastly underrepresented in our nation’s newsrooms. While about 7 percent of Americans have served in the armed forces, only 2 percent of media workers are military veterans, according to U.S. Census data. Veterans bring perspective, nuanced understanding and on-the-ground experience about the military and veteran affairs that ultimately benefits newsrooms and news consumers.