New York Times is first participating news organization

The Times has endorsed NLP, posted an internal announcement giving the paper’s journalists the opportunity to volunteer in the classroom, and is helping NLP recruit former Times reporters and editors to participate in its after-school program. It has also agreed to provide copies of the paper to participating schools that don’t currently have access to it.

“The New York Times is pleased to participate in the News Literacy Project,” said Janet L. Robinson, president and CEO of the New York Times Co. “We support its effort to light a spark of interest in news that will make students informed citizens and to give students the ability to discern credible, verified and fairly presented information amid the myriad sources available to them today.”

Thus far, more than a dozen reporters and editors from the Times have volunteered to participate. NLP plans to launch its program in schools in New York City and Montgomery County, Maryland, in early 2009.