Charlotte Gill

Charlotte Gill

Who funds them?

The fellowship behind a Guardian hit piece

A fellow from The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism recently contacted Lord Young

Charlotte Gill's avatar
Charlotte Gill
Aug 03, 2026
∙ Paid

Recently the Free Speech Union was a victim of misinformation at the hands of The Guardian. In a piece published last month, the paper claimed that the Trump administration was to grant $12 million to “groups founded by UK conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young”.

Ahead of its publication, Toby refuted the claims to be made in the piece, put to him in an email by a journalist called Aisha Down. It’s worth reading this piece to get all the details - or this Twitter post.

I was curious to see Down sign off in her emails as a “Senior Tarbell Fellow”. What on earth is that? I wondered. Although it’s not the main takeaway of the story, it’s certainly an interesting rabbit hole - showing how many players there are now in journalism.

Down’s fellowship is with something called “The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism”, as you can see from her Guardian profile here…

… as well as the Tarbell Centre’s own website:

User's avatar

Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Charlotte Gill.

Or purchase a paid subscription.
© 2026 Charlotte Gill · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture