The Chicago-based McCormick Foundation has announced grants totaling $5 million to organizations working to advance news literacy, investigative journalism, and the defense of First Amendment rights.

The grants signal a shift in direction for the foundation's journalism program, which plans to focus much of its grantmaking on news literacy — an emerging movement to encourage and develop critical thinking skills in citizens of all ages so they can judge the reliability and credibility of information received through various media sources. A related initiative will work to encourage and protect investigative journalism, which has been threatened by the weakened financial position of many news organizations.

The awards include a two-year, $120,000 grant to Street Level Youth Media's Sounding Point radio initiative, which will use the funds to offer an eight- to twelve-week production workshop to forty-five students between the ages of 8 and 18; a $100,000 grant to the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University to create a news literacy curriculum and distribution system for high schools and colleges; and a $75,000 grant to the Poynter Institute, which will use the funds to expand its News Literacy Project into five Chicago middle schools and develop classroom news literacy programs and afterschool programs focusing on news and current events.

"The news media world as we know it has been blown to bits, and consumers are showered with thousands of news and information sources," said McCormick Foundation president and CEO David Hiller. "In this vast new world, a growing sector of the U.S. population does not distinguish or appreciate the differences among journalists, information spinners, and citizen voices. It is important for us all to be savvy consumers of news and more informed decision makers. What stays the same is that nothing is more critical to the vitality of a democracy than a free press and an engaged citizenry."