Four media organisations from India selected in the second round of the Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge

Google announced the shortlist of the second round of its Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge in Asia Pacific today. Four digital media platforms from India were selected: The News Minute, Gaon Connection, The Morning Context, and IE Online Media Services Private Limited.

The four organisations were among 18 shortlisted from 255 submissions.

Media houses had been invited to apply in October to submit “new ideas to help journalism thrive in the digital age”, and Google would “fund projects that inject new ideas into the news industry”.

While the first round focused on creative revenue generation systems, the second round asked participants to propose new ways of enhancing reader engagement “which ultimately leads to greater loyalty and willingness to pay for content”.

With the Covid-19 outbreak, Google also plans to launch a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund “to deliver urgent aid to thousands of small, medium and local news publishers globally”.

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