• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, March 27, 2023

WPP said today that it has joined the Media Freedom Cohort, a group of organizations including Microsoft, Google, the New York Times and others to support independent journalism.

The Cohort was formed two years ago during the first Summit For Democracy, convened by the Biden administration. WPP’s announcement is timed to the second gathering of the Summit later this week.

Leading the group is a non-profit called Internews and the governments of Canada and the Netherlands.

GroupM will spearhead WPP’s commitment which includes:

• Creating dedicated marketplaces with domains vetted by Internews designed to promote responsible journalism.
• Drive awareness among clients and the wider industry about the importance of investing in responsible journalism.
• Add the domains for responsible journalism in local media supply offered to clients.

GroupM has been supporting investments in journalism through several programs, including an agreement unveiled last month to utilize Internews to vet the quality of local, national and international news sites for programmatic media buys.

Two years ago GroupM was the first holding company to join a TripleLift programmatic media initiative designed to boost the struggling publishing industry which was particularly hit hard during the pandemic.

Other companies that have joined the Media Freedom Cohort include the Associated Press, BBC Media Action, Free Press Unlimited and more than 100 governments worldwide.