Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship

What Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship does

Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship (IDJC) is a nonpartisan academic research, teaching, and public events institute headquartered in Washington, D.C. at the SU DC Center in Dupont Circle. Established in 2024 as a joint initiative of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, IDJC is led by inaugural Kramer Director Margaret Talev and staffed by a small team of approximately seven faculty and researchers. The institute studies challenges to democracy related to the information environment, including polarization, misinformation, media trust, incivility, and the decline of local news.

IDJC operates a portfolio of interconnected research programs: the Deciders Focus Groups (monthly qualitative research with key voting blocs in presidential election battleground states, in partnership with Engagious/Sago and NBC News), the American Identity Poll (national surveys of roughly 1,000 U.S. adults per wave conducted with Ipsos), the ElectionGraph project (using Neo4j graph database technology to map 2024 election advertising and misinformation), and the Police in Your Town investigative journalism initiative. The institute also delivers on-site undergraduate and graduate courses in Washington, D.C., hosts in-person, virtual, and hybrid public dialogue events around the country, and produces the 250 American Firsts Podcast and The Squeeze Newsletter.

IDJC is a noncommercial academic institute supported by Syracuse University institutional resources, external research grants (Neo4j, Google News Initiative/Northwestern), and public donations. All research findings, poll toplines, and focus group results are made publicly available, and the institute monetizes through grants and donations rather than paid products or services. Its business model is therefore closer to that of a university-affiliated think tank than a commercial enterprise.

Name

Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship

Legal name

Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship

Website

https://idjc.syracuse.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship (IDJC) is a nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based academic institute that conducts research, teaching, and public events on democracy, journalism, and civic engagement, serving students, journalists, news organizations, and the general public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civic Research and Journalism Education

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Electoral Support & Election Observation (BPADAGAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Human Oversight, Review & Content Moderation Tooling (HDAAAMAH), Education, Research & Academic Congresses (THAHAJAD), Information & Media Literacy (Evaluate Sources, Misinformation) (EDAAAAAI), Safeguarding, Accountability & Compliance (ESG, Gender/GBV, Do No Harm) (BPADAEAM)

Keywords

• Democracy research
• Civic engagement studies
• Journalism education
• Election analysis
• Political communication research

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. University Institutional Support: IDJC is a joint initiative of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, receiving support from the university infrastructure.
2. Research Grants and Donations: The institute receives research grants (e.g., Neo4j research grant for ElectionGraph, Data-Driven Reporting Project funding via Google News Initiative/Northwestern) and accepts donations from the public.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship (IDJC) conducts nonpartisan, evidence-based research on challenges to democracy related to the information environment, including polarization, misinformation, declining trust in media, and incivility. It delivers this through research projects (Deciders Focus Groups, American Identity Poll, ElectionGraph, Police in Your Town), undergraduate and graduate teaching programs in Washington, D.C., and convenings such as public dialogue events and a podcast.

Product overview

The Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship (IDJC) is a nonpartisan research and teaching institute based in Washington, D.C. that operates as a unified research organization offering multiple interconnected programs: the Deciders Focus Groups (monthly qualitative research with key voter demographics), the American Identity Poll (national quantitative surveys with Ipsos), ElectionGraph (graph-database-powered misinformation tracking research), Police in Your Town (investigative journalism), Teaching and Experiential Learning Programs (graduate/undergraduate courses in D.C.), Public Dialogue Events (conferences and forums), and the 250 American Firsts Podcast. These programs collectively address challenges to democracy related to the information environment through evidence-based research, teaching, and public engagement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Deciders Focus Groups: Focus group research project examining voter attitudes and behavior in key battleground states
• American Identity Poll
• ElectionGraph

Quantifiable outcome

• Each wave of the American Identity Poll surveys ~1,000 U.S. adults, providing nationally representative data on democracy, news, and civic engagement attitudes.
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Neo4jcoreTechnology or Integration · 8 February 2024Neo4j provided a research grant and its graph database technology and experts to support the ElectionGraph project, which tracks trends in the U.S. presidential race and examines misinformation targeting U.S. voters through social media.
• NBC NewscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024NBC News collaborates with IDJC on the Deciders Focus Groups project, a series of monthly focus groups with key voting blocs in presidential election battleground states. NBC News features the results in a monthly series on Meet the Press NOW, NBC News NOW, MSNBC, and NBCNews.com.
• Engagious / SagocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Engagious and Sago partner with IDJC on the Deciders Focus Groups project, developing questions about participants' views toward issues, candidates, voting, governance, democracy, and news habits and trust. The partnership curates and publishes regular focus group sessions with key voting blocs.
• IpsoscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIpsos conducts the Syracuse University-Ipsos American Identity Poll for IDJC, measuring U.S. attitudes toward democracy, news, information, and civic engagement. Each wave surveys approximately 1,000 U.S. adults using KnowledgePanel.
• The Marshall Project, ProPublica, MuckRockmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFollowing New York's 2020 repeal of a Civil Rights Law provision shielding police misconduct records, several news organizations including The Marshall Project, ProPublica, and MuckRock strategized ways to obtain the documents for journalism organizations, research, and the public. This initiative supported IDJC's Police in Your Town investigation.
• USA Today NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUSA Today Network-New York partnered with Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School on the Driving Force police accountability investigative series. The collaboration involved gathering records from hundreds of New York State police agencies and publishing investigative reports.
• The Central CurrentminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Central Current joined the Police in Your Town investigative team alongside USA Today Network and Newhouse students to work on the driving force police accountability project.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Brookings Institution: Brookings is a larger, established think tank producing research across governance, elections, and media policy. It covers IDJC's thematic ground (democracy, polarization) but as part of a much broader portfolio rather than a focused research institute.
• Knight Foundation: Knight Foundation funds journalism, media innovation, and democratic engagement initiatives nationally. It overlaps with IDJC's funding and mission space but as a grantmaker rather than a direct research producer.
• MIT Media Lab: MIT Media Lab conducts academic research on misinformation, political communication, and platform dynamics. Its work on elections and computational propaganda overlaps with ElectionGraph's graph-database misinformation research.

Direct peers

• Quinnipiac University Poll: Quinnipiac is a university-based, nationally recognized public opinion poll measuring voter attitudes, often cited in national election coverage. Like IDJC's American Identity Poll, it operates from an academic home and targets democratic and political attitudes.
• Stanford Internet Observatory: Stanford Internet Observatory is an academic research initiative that studies election misinformation, platform policy, and information ecosystems. IDJC's ElectionGraph project is a direct functional analog, applying graph-database tooling to U.S. election ad and misinformation analysis.
• Marist Poll: Marist Poll is a university-based survey research center that conducts national and state-level political polling, including NBC News/Wall Street Journal polling. IDJC's partnership with NBC News parallels Marist's longstanding NBC relationship and similar academic positioning.
• Pew Research Center: Pew is the closest nonpartisan, large-scale public opinion and democracy research outfit. IDJC's American Identity Poll with Ipsos mirrors Pew's instrument-based approach, and both organizations publish freely to inform journalism and policy.
• Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Based at Oxford, the Reuters Institute studies journalism, news consumption, and trust across democracies. Its focus on comparative media research and the annual Digital News Report aligns with IDJC's journalism and democracy research mandate.
• Annenberg Public Policy Center: APPC is a university-based (Penn) research center housing FactCheck.org and conducting polling on political communication, science literacy, and civic engagement. Its structure of running polling + fact-checking under one academic umbrella mirrors IDJC's combined polling and misinformation research model.
• Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy: Shorenstein is a university-embedded research center studying the intersection of media, politics, and democracy. It overlaps directly with IDJC's research on polarization, news consumption, and democratic engagement, and both serve as convening hubs for journalists and scholars.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SyracuseIDJC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/syracuse-university-institute-for-democracy-journalism-citizenship
• Instagraminstagram.com/syracuseidjc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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