ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (November 10, 2025) – Fifty years ago today, a visionary newspaper editor saw his dream realized with the official creation of a nonprofit school for journalists that would later bear his name: The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

Incorporated Nov. 10, 1975, the institute was started by Nelson Poynter to preserve the independence of the then-St. Petersburg Times and to improve the quality and ethics of journalism everywhere.

Today, as the Poynter Institute turns 50, its impact has expanded across the globe, as the gold standard for the professional development of journalists, a trusted partner for improving local news, a cutting-edge innovation lab for issues relating to artificial intelligence and the media, and a leader in fact-checking, media literacy and the fight against misinformation.

To support its ongoing work, Poynter is announcing Nov. 10 as an annual “Poynter Day” and asking alumni, journalists, educators, business leaders, philanthropists and news consumers who care about the benefits that a strong and ethical free press bring to communities to support its work. Poynter has set a goal to raise $50,000 before the end of 2025 to power its work in the new year. Supporters can donatehere.

A group of Poynter staff celebrates the institute’s 50th anniversary with a birthday party on the St. Petersburg campus. (Chris Kozlowski/Poynter)

“We are proud of what the Poynter Institute has accomplished in our first 50 years, but we are even more excited about the important work we are engaged in and are planning for the future,” said Poynter President Neil Brown. “The importance of an independent press and trustworthy, fact-based expression has never been more clear, and Poynter is a driving force behind both.”

While acknowledging that the news industry faces many challenges, Brown said Poynter is focused on positive action and solutions.

“We intend to lead, not lament,” Brown said. “Poynter is deeply committed to making journalism better for everyone who wants quality, accurate news in their communities.”

As the institute celebrates Poynter Day, numerous important Poynter initiatives have served to strengthen local news, safeguard the free press, promote information integrity and provide tools to citizens to sort truth from fiction in the information they receive. Just this year, Poynter has:

• Helped local public radio and television stations become the leading source of local news in their communities, even as the government has defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Poynter programs for public media have led these newsrooms to new sources of digital revenue and growing audiences, as well as helped develop stronger and more ethical leadership.
• Launched Press Freedom Watch, a comprehensive database of federal actions that threaten or restrict the free press, from lawsuits to executive orders to policy changes. The tracker accompanies a new focus on First Amendment reporting in Poynter’s newsroom covering the news industry.
• Provided free training webinars to news organizations with experts to help them safeguard their journalism against legal threats, increase their knowledge of select research tools and strategies and enable continued strong reporting for their audiences amid the growing problem of reluctant sources.
• Began a new collaborative of youth news creators to help high school and college students learn how to tell stories in long form vertical video to reach young, online news consumers with accurate information.
• Increased efforts at the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact to fact-check personal health-related claims. The team has investigated the safety of vaccines for infants and children, and what studies say about pregnant women taking Tylenol and is making the information easily available and free via social media.
• Launched an AI Innovation Lab to focus Poynter’s leading work on ethical use of AI in journalism and empowering citizens to understand the effect of AI on the news they consume.

“The Poynter community is committed and proud, and whenever we ask for them to stand up for the values of good journalism, they’ve come through. We hope Poynter Day becomes an annual celebration of that support, and a way for us to create even closer connections to our alumni and friends worldwide,” said Aaron Sharockman, Poynter’s vice president for sales and strategic partnerships. “Friends of Poynter know we put their donations to good use — by providing low- and no-cost training opportunities to thousands of journalists and by supporting programs that create a healthier information ecosystem.”

Jessica Yellin, of News Not Noise, and Mike Allen of Axios, are honored by Poynter at an event this fall. (Allison Robbert/Poynter)

A rich history

Poynter’s history is one of some lore in the journalism business, because Nelson Poynter’s action – essentially to give away his valuable newspaper, now called the Tampa Bay Times – to a nonprofit school, was so unusual.

Poynter believed that a newspaper can best serve its community by being independent and locally controlled. In 1975, he created what was then called Modern Media Institute to train professional journalists and elevate the craft and ethics of journalism. Upon his death, in an exceptional act of vision and philanthropy, he left controlling stock of the Times to the Institute. His gift protected the publication’s independence and ties to the community, and fulfilled Poynter’s dream of a school that helped working journalists do better work in service to democracy.

The Institute was renamed the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in 1984, six years after Poynter’s death.

Growth and change

Jessi Hollis McCarthy of Poynter’s MediaWise teaches media literacy tools during a stop of the Moments of Truth exhibit tour in Boulder, Colorado. (Nathan Thompson/Poynter)

In the last decade, Poynter has expanded and diversified its work in addition to its roots as a school and the leading voice for journalism ethics.

In 2015, Poynter became the home of the International Fact-Checking Network, which supports and sets standards for the community of fact-checkers worldwide. The IFCN has overseen the awarding of more than $8 million in grants to strengthen fact-checkers through the Global Fact Check Fund since 2023, and gathers hundreds each year at its annual international conference, GlobalFact.

Attendees pose for a group photo at GlobalFact 12 in Rio de Janeiro on June 27, 2025. The annual summit, hosted by the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, brought together around 400 fact-checkers from 80 countries. (Andressa Guerra/Poynter)

In 2018 the Pulitzer-Prize winning PolitiFact moved from the Tampa Bay Times to Poynter and gained nonprofit status, which sparked an era of growth and expansion for the country’s largest fact-checking newsroom.

Also in 2018 Poynter launched MediaWise, a digital media literacy project that has created lessons and tools to help all kinds of people, from teens to senior citizens, sort truth from fiction online. This year, MediaWise provided media literacy training for more than 1,500 people in five cities as part of a national museum tour of a Poynter exhibit on the past, present and future of the free press.

** Media Contact **Jennifer Orsi Vice President, Publishing and Local News Initiatives The Poynter Institute jorsi@poyner.org

About The Poynter Institute

The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is a gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the universally shared information ecosystem.

The Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), MediaWise and PolitiFact are all members of the Poynter organization.

Support for Poynter and our entities upholds the integrity of the free press and the U.S. First Amendment and builds public confidence in journalism and media — an essential for healthy democracies. Learn more at poynter.org.