The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism has funded fellows working at prominent media organizations, raising questions about disclosure practices when journalists cover companies and policy debates connected to the nonprofit’s donors.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A nonprofit organization financed in part by wealthy technology donors has been paying journalists assigned to cover artificial intelligence at several major news organizations, according to a Fox News report.
The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism provides specialized training and financial support to reporters covering AI, including fellows placed at Bloomberg, Time, NBC News, the Guardian and the Los Angeles Times. Those journalists have reported on subjects such as OpenAI, Anthropic and AI safety while receiving salaries funded through the nonprofit.
Some participating news organizations disclose Tarbell’s role in supporting individual reporters, while others have published articles without informing readers of the financial relationship. The inconsistent practices have prompted scrutiny of whether media outlets are adequately identifying outside funding connected to their technology coverage.
Founded in 2022, Tarbell reportedly pays fellows between $60,000 and $80,000. Journalists with at least five years of experience may receive between $90,000 and $110,000.
The center says its operating support comes from organizations including Coefficient Giving, the Future of Life Institute, the Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund and the Survival and Flourishing Fund. Each group has supported initiatives related to AI safety or the potential long-term consequences of advanced artificial intelligence.
Coefficient Giving has provided more than $4.7 million to Tarbell, according to the report. The grant-making organization is heavily supported by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who is also an investor in Anthropic.
That connection has fueled concerns that reporting financed through Tarbell could be influenced, or appear to be influenced, by donors with financial or ideological interests in the AI industry.
Tarbell Executive Director Cillian Crosson rejected the suggestion that the organization directs the work or conclusions of its fellows.
“All our fellows maintain strict editorial independence,” Crosson told Fox News. “Tarbell does not dictate the conclusions or perspectives of the journalists we support — their reporting is guided only by facts they uncover, not predetermined narratives.”
“This is outlined in our editorial independence policies, which are strongly emphasized throughout the process of recruiting, vetting, and training the fellows,” Crosson added.
Questions have persisted, however, when fellows publish coverage involving companies connected to Tarbell’s funding network without an accompanying disclosure.
Harry Booth, a Tarbell-supported reporter writing for Time, authored an article titled “The War for AI” that described Anthropic’s Claude as a “world-class model.” Time did not disclose Booth’s relationship with Tarbell in that story, according to the report.
Anthropic’s connection to Moskovitz, whose support helps fund Coefficient Giving, has made the absence of such disclosures a focus of criticism. The issue does not by itself establish that the coverage was influenced, but it raises questions about whether readers were given enough information to evaluate potential conflicts.
NBC News has taken a more explicit approach by placing editorial notes on stories written by Tarbell fellows.
“This reporter is a Tarbell Fellow, funded through the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism, a nonprofit devoted to supporting the news coverage of artificial intelligence,” NBC stated beneath an article by Jared Perlo.
Perlo’s reporting concerned the Future of Life Institute, one of the organizations that has helped finance Tarbell.
“The Tarbell Center has received funding from the Future of Life Institute, which is a subject of this article,” the editorial note said. “The Tarbell Center had no input on NBC News’ reporting.”
Tarbell says it requires both fellows and participating media organizations to disclose relevant relationships. The organization also said those obligations may change when a fellow is subsequently hired directly by the outlet where the journalist had been placed.
Under that arrangement, a former fellow who becomes a regular employee may no longer be required to identify the earlier Tarbell relationship in each article.
The funding model reflects a broader trend in which nonprofit groups subsidize specialized journalism that newsrooms may otherwise lack the resources to support. In the case of artificial intelligence, however, the donors, companies and advocacy groups involved often have direct interests in how the technology is regulated, developed and portrayed publicly.
Tarbell maintains that its financial support does not compromise editorial independence. The differences among outlets’ disclosure policies, however, leave readers with varying levels of information about who is paying the journalists reporting on one of the technology industry’s most consequential and financially valuable sectors.
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