Janet Coats to lead UF Trust in Media and Technology group

Media veteran Janet Coats has been named the first head of the University of Florida's Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology, UF officials announced in a Friday news release.

The consortium is a new university project spearheaded by six UF groups: the College of Journalism and Communications, the Wertheim College of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Informatics Institute, the George Smathers Libraries and the Division of Student Services.

It was initially funded in October 2018 with $1.25 million to study and address dwindling trust in news and technology internationally, according to its website, and the consortium aims eventually to draft recommendations for technological adaptation and legislation.

UF College of Journalism and Communications Dean Diane McFarlin said in the press release she is excited for Coats to take over the "moonshot initiative."

Coats is executive director for innovation and strategy at the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She previously founded her own consulting company; worked in nonprofit newsrooms; helped lead newsrooms in Tampa, Sarasota and the Poynter Institute; was a five-time Pulitzer Prize juror and an American Society of News Editors board member.

In the news release, Coats calls false, misleading information a "trust crisis," and said the consortium represents a chance to combat those threats.