Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, has created a new site called CraigConnects, which promotes journalism integrity sites as well as other sites he likes. (Credit: CraigConnects)

Craig Newmark, who created CraigsList, has launched a new site to promote nonprofits and journalism organizations that he endorses.

The site, called CraigConnects, lists dozens of organizations he recommends.  Newmark announced he is committing the next twenty years to the CraigConnects project — a way to “connect and protect organizations that are making an impact.”

But, Newmark explains on the site that his site is just “a small project not a fundraising or grant-making 501c3 and it is not craigslist.”

Of the journalism sites, Newmark backs the Center for Media & Democracy, Huffington Post — for which Newmark writes, ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity and others. The Center for Media & Democracy describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan media watchdog.

In an interview with NiemanLab, Newmark said he explains journalism integrity as “a reasonable adherence to traditional journalistic ethics like fact checking, and truth in advertising when an interviewee is paid to present a position; more so if the interviewee has been caught lying repeatedly.”

Newmark calls for disclosure by both reporters and sources as well as balanced, fact-checked reporting.

The site’s launch was announced in an early March press release.  Some of the nonprofits and other organizations Newmark backs include community building and open government organizations.

iMediaEthics has written to Newmark for more information and will update with any response.

Newmark also noted that despite assumptions, he doesn’t run Craigslist, although he is involved and did found it. Craigslist, as NiemanLab notes, is sometimes blamed for killing newspaper classified ads by making ads free to post on Craigslist.