It started with a realization during a family holiday two years ago. Our children, in their 20s, were up to speed on international headlines even during vacation thanks to smartphones.

But questions kept coming. Why is there fighting in Syria? Flooding in India but drought in the U.S.? Why care about Iran's new president?

I call it the knowledge gap: Young people know the headlines but for no fault of their own struggle to understand the meaning of events.

News outfits deliver global headlines with unprecedented speed. But we cannot blame millennials for asking: Why is this happening? And what can I do about it?

In my twin careers as a foreign correspondent and educator, I heard those questions over and over as citizens around the world grappled with conflict, often rooted in misunderstanding and suspicion.

Now I've decided to do something about it.

A GLOBAL CONVERSATION

News-Decoder will build a community of young adults around the world who want to dig behind the headlines, discover new horizons and challenge conventional wisdom.

It is backed by an international network of experienced journalists who will explain -- authoritatively and impartially -- why news is happening, why it is important and what it means.

News-Decoder will stand on two legs:

• a website with articles, photos, video and graphics by our correspondents and millennials aged 18 to 30 who will share experiences and perspectives;
  
• a digital platform for debates and discussion of the issues that matter to the world's next generation of leaders.
  

News-Decoder puts the experience and global perspective of its experts at the service of the millennial generation while offering young adults around the world the chance to shape the community.

We will bridge generations and international borders. Our mission is ambitious. But in an interconnected world, with the millennial generation poised to assume leadership, we need more, not less, understanding.

                 

WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?

For young adults, News-Decoder will offer an unparalleled chance to learn from experts and to converse with other millennials around the world. It is an opportunity to make oneself heard, to listen and to assume thought leadership.

Millennials will contribute articles, photographs, videos -- the content of their choice -- creating a hub for the exchange of diverse perspectives. They will participate in debates and discussions, moderated by our correspondents and invited experts, that will decipher international affairs.

For all generations, News-Decoder offers a chance to help tear down walls of distrust and foster a global conversation. By connecting young adults from around the world with our experts and with one another, News-Decoder bridges the gaps in understanding that can be the source of conflict.

I worked for 24 years as a correspondent and news manager at Reuters, with postings in six countries: the United States, France, India, Malaysia, Italy and Japan. In my last post I managed Reuters’s Asia operations, which stretch across two dozen countries and involved more than 700 journalists and a $40 million budget. I have dual U.S.-French citizenship. 

More recently I managed student recruitment and admissions for Johns Hopkins’s graduate program in Europe, one of the world's top international relations master’s programs. I helped increase the number and diversity of applicants, and hammered out cooperative degree agreements with European partner universities.

News-Decoder is backed by 33 correspondents who have covered the biggest news stories of the past 40 years: the Vietnam War, 9/11, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Iran's revolution, Wall Street meltdowns, currency upheavals, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Palestinian intifadas, Tiananmen Square, Olympics and World Cups.

Our team includes authors, professors, scholars, communications consultants and a former senior U.S. Defense Department official. Here are three:

               David Schlesinger

Founder and Managing Director of Tripod Advisors, a consultancy that advises on political risk analysis and strategy, and on running complex, dispersed global organizations with an emphasis on China and the media sector. Previously was Reuters’s global editor-in-chief before becoming chairman of Thomson Reuters China, responsible for government relations and businesses in financial markets, legal and regulatory databases, scientific information and journalism.

              Nadia Dala

Belgian journalism lecturer, author and multimedia journalist. Worked as a reporter in Europe and the Middle East after studying in Tunisia and Egypt, and won the Pascal Decroos Award for excellence in investigative reporting. Books include portraits of veiled Muslim women and a study of the history of Algeria and the rise of Islamic parties. A Fulbright journalism scholar at American University, has taught at Georgetown University and is currently senior lecturer at Thomas More university college in Belgium.

              James Clad

New Zealand diplomat and lawyer, foreign correspondent and senior U.S. defense official. Bureau chief in Kuala Lumpur, Manila and New Delhi for the Far Eastern Economic Review; war and conflict coverage in Iran, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Afghanistan; fellowships at Oxford and Harvard; professor at Georgetown University (1995-2002); U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia (2007-09); three books on foreign policy and Asia; currently senior adviser at CNA Corporation and IHS Jane's Defence.

Our correspondents are uniquely qualified to highlight the different facets of international affairs. They wear their impartiality as a badge of honor.

WHERE WILL THE MONEY GO?

Over the past six months I have spoken with educators, millennials and media experts around the world to refine our mission and strategy.

This campaign will enable us to launch a 6-month pilot program -- a minimum viable product. We plan to register News-Decoder as a not-for-profit, consistent with its educational mission, and to sign up institutions as testers.

Where will the money go? The pie chart below captures the distribution between:

Our perks range from a chance to submit a question on global affairs to our experts, to acknowledgement on our website and in social media, to books by our correspondents, to the chance to shape our events.

RISKS

There is no guarantee we will succeed: 

• We have a global mission that will require a global footprint and cross-border cooperation -- in an age of strife and conflict.
  
• Our success will depend on our ability to leverage digital tools to build a community of young people.
  
• Our mission is premised on the willingness of young adults to engage with each other with the civility and maturity their elders have often lacked.
  

My faith in News-Decoder stems from my conviction, supported by surveys and my experiences as a parent and in the classroom, that millennials are eager to learn about the rest of the world and to listen to each other.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Your financial contribution would be much appreciated. You would join our effort to create a global commons that nurtures understanding, tolerance and solidarity.

Your contribution is your vote for a brighter future.

Please consider spreading word of News-Decoder among your friends, family and co-workers. Check out our social media sites. Indiegogo offers tools to help you give us international exposure.

Talented and energetic millennials are counting on us to make News-Decoder a reality. Bring it on!

Thank you very much.

Nelson Graves