The Future of Journalism: How Immersive Technology and Artificial Intelligence Can Shape the News and Impact Audience Opinion | K NOFO 21 103

Opportunity Information: Apply for K NOFO 21 103

The grant opportunity titled "The Future of Journalism: How Immersive Technology and Artificial Intelligence Can Shape the News and Impact Audience Opinion" is a U.S. Department of State (U.S. Mission to India) discretionary grant designed to strengthen journalism and public discourse in India, with a particular emphasis on East and Northeast India. The central idea is that the United States and India share a strategic interest in reducing fake news and disinformation, which can inflame social tensions, distort democratic decision-making, and undermine a secure Indo-Pacific region. The program frames disinformation not just as a technology problem, but as an ecosystem problem that requires better-trained journalists, a more digitally literate public, and modern newsrooms that can compete effectively in the attention economy without sacrificing accuracy or ethics.

At its core, the opportunity focuses on professionalizing and upgrading the technical capabilities of media practitioners by introducing immersive storytelling tools such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), while also acknowledging the broader role of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence in shaping audience opinion. The grant’s theory of change is straightforward: if journalists and media professionals gain hands-on skills in creating credible, compelling immersive content, they can reach audiences more effectively, provide richer context for complex issues, and reduce the space in which sensationalized or maliciously amplified narratives thrive. The program also emphasizes partnerships and networks as essential to countering disinformation, reflecting the view that collaborative, cross-sector relationships are necessary to respond quickly and credibly to coordinated influence efforts.

The stated project objectives are threefold. First, the program aims to train roughly 70 to 80 journalists, media professionals, and storytellers in AR and VR production over a 12 to 18 month period, with an emphasis on building practical capacity to develop immersive content from concept to distribution. Second, it seeks the actual creation and publication of immersive AR/VR media products focused on areas of shared U.S.-India interest, including environmental challenges, human trafficking, gender issues, religious freedom, press freedom, and cross-border security. Third, it targets the active countering of mis- and disinformation by producing accurate, engaging immersive journalism and by strengthening networks of professional digital journalists across the region who can reinforce credible narratives and best practices.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, the opportunity is identified by Funding Opportunity Number K NOFO 21 103 and falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category (CFDA 19.040). The award ceiling is $150,000, and the program anticipated up to 10 awards. Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in that category). The notice was created on March 2, 2021, and the original closing date was April 30, 2021, indicating it was a time-bound competition aimed at launching projects that could quickly build capacity and produce tangible outputs.

Overall, this grant opportunity is structured around a practical, skills-to-products pipeline: train a cohort, produce immersive content on high-impact themes, and use that content and the resulting professional networks to weaken disinformation’s influence. The emphasis on East and Northeast India highlights a regional capacity-building goal, while the broader framing ties improved media professionalism and modern storytelling tools to shared U.S.-India priorities for stability, transparency, and resilient democratic discourse.

• The Department of State, U.S. Mission to India in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Future of Journalism: How Immersive Technology and Artificial Intelligence Can Shape the News and Impact Audience Opinion" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.040.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 02, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 30, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

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