Google brings accelerator programme for digital news start-ups in India
- IBEF
- September 10, 2021
On Thursday, Google introduced ''GNI (Google News Initiative) Start-ups Lab India'', an accelerator programme designed for news start-ups in India.
Under the program, Google plans to offer a four-month programme to support news start-ups with operational and financial sustainability through exhaustive skills training, coaching and other support.
Google stated that DIGIPUB News India Foundation and Echos (a global innovation lab) collaborated to design the GNI Start-ups Lab India programme and enable high-quality reporting for domestic and underserved communities in the country.
It added that all news start-ups who publish in Indian languages can avail the programme. It is accepting applications until October 18, 2021. Google plans to select 10 independent digital news publishers in the first phase in India.
Google said, access to trustworthy data is important for all elements of a prosperous democracy
It added, "Over the years, we have been focusing on offering access to quality journalism, backing up evolving news business models and empowering newsrooms to engage their readers in innovative ways, through the pandemic and beyond.”
The 16-week programme is designed to the requirement of news start-up in India. The participants would benefit from DIGIPUB's network and community with coaching and workshops and Echos' expertise in baking up media start-ups.
In May, Google announced the expansion of Google News Showcase, its licensing programme, to offer services to news reader and firms in India.
Google stated that in the dedicated News Showcase panels on Discover and Google News, it has included four new languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi - in addition to Hindi and English
This will enable more readers to access quality news in their languages.
With the inclusion of these new languages, Google has now onboarded >50 partners, representing >70 publications.
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
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