Tuesday 13th September: What journalistic projects is Google choosing to fund?

September 13, 2022

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Google's odd relationship with the news industry has - despite the argy bargy - delivered results when it comes to funding journalistic experiments. As Rick Edmonds writes, while others practice a long-term ‘go-big-or-go-home’ strategy, Google’s philanthropy has taken the opposite tack.

For instance, Ludovic Blecher, who runs the Google Innovation Challenges from Paris, explains how replicability is important to secure funding: "Google also learned to look for ideas that are both collaborative and replicable, so there is an industry impact, not just a lift to the recipient. And he has concluded that just completing an application, even one that isn’t funded, can broaden the thinking of news outlets stuck in the day-to-day."

We can discuss the various issues of publishers of all shapes and sizes accepting money from the big platforms - and have, at length. But at least these innovation challenges actually fund experimentation by design, so that we can learn something about the realities of digital publishing instead of it just going into Murdoch's pocket.

Christ almighty, there are some stories that jolt you out of your comfort zone. Journalists are still in real danger in so many parts of the world, and the tenacity and inventiveness of some reporters in Colombia is absolutely inspiring. Well worth a read.

Adblocking sort of feels like the acid rain of the digital ad world - it was a huge and scary problem and undoubtedly caused problems, but it just... went away? Or at least stopped getting as many column inches devoted to it. Or maybe not - adblocking is back at 2018 levels, but that might be about to change again.

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Coming Soon(er):

Media Moments 2022 - sponsored by membership & subscription suite Poool - will bring together the key events which have shaped the media and publishing industry this year. We'll be launching it at a virtual event on November 30th. Pre-register here to get sent the report as soon as it lands.

In this teaser episode, we discuss our plans for the day, and which sessions we’re most looking forward to. The Publisher Podcast Summit is designed for publishers of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re contemplating launching your first podcast, or have a whole stable and want to know how to take your strategy to the next level.