Google donates $5 million to encourage innovation in digital journalism

Google are donating $5 million in grants to non-profit organisations in an effort to encourage innovation in digital journalism. The announcement was made by Nikesh Arora, President of Global Sales Operations and Business Development in an official Google blog post.

In the blog post Arora points out the importance of media and its role in shaping a democratic society. Google are eager to play a pivotal role in providing technology to media organisations as they “broaden their presence online”.

Arora stated: “We’re eager to play our part on the technology side—experimenting with new ways of presenting news online; providing tools like Google Maps and YouTube Direct to make websites more engaging for readers; and investing heavily in our digital platforms to enable publishers to generate more revenue.”

Google are granting $2 million to the Knight Foundation, and the remaining $3 million in international journalism projects. More details on international journalism efforts are expected early next year.

The Knight Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting journalism, will use $1 million to support general grant-making for journalism innovation, and the other $1 million to fund the Knight News Challenge.

Google hope that these grants will “help new ideas blossom and encourage experimentation”. Innovation is needed in digital journalism and The Sociable openly welcomes this initiative from Google.

Alberto Ibargüen, President of the Knight Foundation, talks about Google’s donation:

Image courtesy of NRKbeta.no