The future of the media is digital and Google recognises this fact as the tech giant has announced that it will launch the Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge in Africa, the Middle East and Turkey in June.
The initiative according to Google will be hinged on 3 verticals:
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Elevating and strengthening quality journalism
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Evolving business models to drive sustainable growth
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Empowering news organizations through technological innovation.
The application will open in June and traditional publishers, news startups and associations that aim to build innovative digital media projects are all eligible to apply. Selected projects will receive up to $150k in funding.
Madhav Chinnappa, Director for News Ecosystem Development says: “News publishers in many parts of the world are grappling with questions of how quality journalism can thrive in the digital age. With economic models changing and new ways in which people are consuming news, innovation in the news industry has never been more important.”
“We’re excited to bring the GNI Challenge to the region. We want to make sure that all news organizations, large and small, legacy publishers as well as new entrants in Africa and the world, have the opportunity to inject new ideas into the regional news industry,” said Ludovic Blecher, Head of the Google News Initiative Innovation.
