Google News Initiative Journalism Emergency Relief Fund

Google News Initiative Journalism Emergency Relief Fund is sponsored by Google News Initiative. Offers financial support to local news organizations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Providing emergency funding for 5,300+ local news organizations Providing emergency funding for 5,300+ local news organizations Head of Innovation, Google News Initiative About 50 percent of the applications didn’t meet the publicly established criteria . Reasons varied from not producing core news (i.e., lifestyle or sports news) to employing less than 2 journalists.

The goal was to be as inclusive as possible while sticking to the eligibility rules . We still have a small percentage of projects to review but below our teams have provided a snapshot of some of the recipients and how they plan to spend the funding.

North America: Chris Jansen, Head of U.S. News & Publishing As we read their stories, we were struck by the number of news organizations in the U.S. and Canada keeping their communities informed with fewer than 10 full-time employees. As small businesses, many applicants are trying to figure out how to keep the lights on, literally and figuratively.

They’re passionate about providing high-quality journalism, and it’s an honor to support them during such a critical point. The Daily Memphian (Memphis, TN, U.S.) will continue to produce 20-30 daily stories focused on issues around COVID-19 and its impact on the poor and on African American communities.

Chestnut Hill Local (Northwest Philadelphia, PA, U.S.): will replace their “archaic website” with a new platform to get content online more quickly and more often. The Discourse Cowichan (Canada) serves a rural region on Vancouver Island, B. C.

, including Cowichan Tribes, the largest First Nation in the region. It will increase reporting capacity to cover the impact of COVID on vulnerable communities. Madison365 (Madison, WI, U.S.) focuses on communities of color in Wisconsin.

It will use funds for additional journalists, video content production and server capacity to provide rapid response coverage on issues impacting people of color across the state. WTIP North Shore Community Radio ’s (Grand Marais, MN, U.S.) emergency response organizations rely on WTIP to broadcast lifesaving information. WTIP will keep its news team employed and on the air, delivering live and local broadcasting throughout the crisis.

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa : Mark Peters, Director, EMEA Partnerships We received applications from 88 countries, and so far we’ve offered funding to more than 1550 publishers, each demonstrating the diversity and strength of local communities and the journalists that continue to serve them through the crisis.

Mediacités ’ (France) fact-checking tool “Veracités” has seen a huge increase in questions from local readers but can currently only answer 10 percent of them. The fund will allow them to invest in the tool and answer more peoples’ questions. Eco di Bergamo (Italy) Data journalism techniques have helped local communities understand what’s happening in the Bergamo area which suffered heavy losses during the crisis.

Funding will be used to increase investment in new means of production (video, audio, photo, data) to give readers a deeper more analytical knowledge of what’s happening in their territory. Bihoreanul (Romania) intends to provide information necessary to fight the spread of COVID-19, and talk about the consequences of the pandemic to its readers. Rochdale online (UK) will keep their journalists working during the crisis.

They’ll focus on helping the community understand the latest advice on COVID-19 and promote the work of local businesses, charities and volunteers. Baraka FM (Kenya) will focus on on-air campaigns to encourage listeners to prevent the spread of COVID-19. They’ll buy personal protective equipment to keep reporters safe when conducting interviews and give emergency stipends to reporters who’ve traveled to cover special reports.

Asia Pacific : Rohan Tiwary, Head of Media, News & Entertainment Partnerships, APAC Asia Pacific has dealt with COVID-19 for longer than any other region—since January, in some places—so we know how urgently this support is needed. When we looked at the more than 2,000 applications, we considered Asia Pacific’s enormous diversity—not just across ethnicities, religions and languages, but also in terms of the news landscape.

We’re supporting more than 800 news organizations in 30 countries and territories, a few examples below. The Murray Pioneer (Australia) will set up two online meeting rooms so they can communicate with remote journalists, local governments and interest groups. Their advertising department will also maintain virtual contact with clients and coordinate campaigns more effectively.

Saitama Shimbun (Japan), a 75-year old newspaper covering the Saitama prefecture, plans to detail the impact of the pandemic to preserve a record for future generations. Suara Surabaya (Indonesia) goes beyond being a news portal, allowing readers to submit complaints like a public service hotline and working with stakeholders to find solutions. They will use funding to bridge cash flow impacted by COVID-19.

East Mojo (India), a digital-only news organization, plans to allow journalists to go to remote parts of Northeast India to shed light on the impact of COVID-19 once the country’s lockdown is lifted.

Latin America : Camilo Gomez - Online Partnerships Group Lead, LATAM The process behind reviewing each of the 2,000+ applications in the region was an opportunity to connect with the amazing journalism and stories that support local communities.

Agencia Amazonia (Brazil) will support Project #CoberturaCovid19Amazônia, which investigates the socio-cultural impact of the coronavirus on traditional populations in the Amazon region, giving priority to stories about indigenous, quilombolas and riverside dwellers. El Colombiano (Colombia) will maintain the quality and resources that characterize the journalism of Medellin newspaper (the second most important city in the country).

La Discusion (Chile) will help finance an integrated radio-digital platform, developing informative, interpretive and opinion content across a variety of subjects like health, minorities, education, and sports etc that have been affected by COVID-19. Today’s news builds on a number of other efforts we’ve recently made in light of the pandemic.

The GNI will announce more in the coming weeks and of course continue working to help the industry towards a more sustainable future in an ever increasingly digital world.

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