Google makes $500,000 donation to encourage news literacy.

Google has funded $500,000 grant for the development and delivery of NewsWise — a program that will teach students how to identify fake news and misinformation online.

NewsWise aims to enhance general news literacy among students aged nine to 19, an increasingly important skill set when so many readily accessible news accounts are unreliable or simply fabricated.

The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) and CIVIX, a charitable organization focused on youth civic engagement are given the grant to develop and deliver NewsWise. The two organizations would work with academics and journalists to develop the curriculum for about 1.5 million Canadian students.

The current plan is to roll out NewsWise ahead of the Ontario election, slated for early June, other pending provincial elections, and the federal election due in 2019.

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