by ELISSA SALAMY | The National Desk

WASHINGTON (TND) — The U.S. State Department is going to send up to $50,000 to nonprofits and universities in India to teach journalists about climate change, according to watchdog group Open the Books. The program aims to increase Indian journalists’ knowledge about climate change, increase their confidence in reporting on climate change issues and increase the quality of climate change reporting in India.

"We found a blurring of the lines between public diplomacy programs and journalism. This $50,000 grant is actually underneath the program of public diplomacy," said Open the Books' Adam Andrzejewski. "Are journalists supposed to be our nation's diplomats? Or are they supposed to be the fourth estate and actually hold the government accountable?"

Within the program, 50 journalists are supposed to be attending workshops in the languages of Telugu and Odia for local journalists. The journalists are each expected to publish a long-form article regarding climate change.

"These 50 journalists are only required to produce one long-form piece. So it's $1,000 a piece on this grant," said Andrzejewski to The National Desk's Jan Jeffcoat. "People may say, well, this is only $50,000. But it goes right to the culture of U.S. foreign aid."