The Franklin News Foundation, previously the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, is an American online nonprofit news organization that publishes news and commentary from a conservative and free market, limited government perspective on state and local politics. Its journalism platform is called The Center Square, rebranded from Watchdog.org. Founded in 2009 in North Dakota, the organization moved to Virginia and is now based in Chicago. The foundation operates Chalkboard News, America's Talking Network, and the Illinois Radio Network in addition to its newswire services.

It was associated with reporting in 41 states as of its second year, but it scaled back later in the 2010s. Its stated mission is "to hold government accountable through objective, balanced, citizen-focused public journalism with a taxpayer sensibility." Much of its funding has come from conservative and Republican-connected large donors, especially via Donors Trust. Chris Krug is the foundation's president.

The Franklin Center was founded in January 2009 with an initial sponsorship grant from the Sam Adams Alliance, a conservative think tank. It was described that year by the Associated Press as "a government watchdog group led by former Republican staffers". One of its founders was Jason Stverak, a prior executive director of the North Dakota Republican Party. The organization was originally based in Bismarck, North Dakota, before moving to Alexandria, Virginia.

In September 2009, the Franklin Center launched Watchdog.org, a network of state-based journalists who investigate and report on state and local government. Stories from the state news bureaus were linked on Watchdog.org and syndicated for newspapers.

The Franklin Center is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a consortium of conservative and libertarian think tanks which focus on state-level policy. The Franklin Center partnered with the State Policy Network to help establish news websites and hire reporters in each of the State Policy Network think tanks. Thirty news bureaus were established in the first year and 41 as of the second year, almost all in State Policy Network think tanks.

In early 2012, the Franklin Center created a platform for citizen journalism under a banner called Watchdog Wire. As of 2013, many officials of Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-affiliated group known for its Tea Party rallies, were leading the Franklin Center, according to The Nation.

As of 2014, the Franklin Center owned 14 of the 33 ideological press outlets (as identified by a Pew Research Center study) that assigned reporters to state governments. Such ideological outlets were described as filling a void when financially struggling daily newspapers were cutting their statehouse reporters during and after the Great Recession. Governing described the Franklin Center outlets in 2014: "Some covered events in a relatively straightforward fashion; others made little effort to conceal their ideological bent. After some shake-ups and streamlining, most of the sites that didn’t become financially self-sufficient now appear under the Watchdog banner." Governing noted that the Franklin Center had been one of the largest recipients of money from groups connected to the billionaire Koch brothers.

Nicole Neily was appointed the Franklin Center’s president in March 2016. In April 2017, the Franklin Center acquired the non-profit Illinois News Network and its associated assets from the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank led by John Tillman. INN publisher Chris Krug was named President of the Franklin Center and the headquarters moving to Chicago, Illinois.