Good morning! Today's news roundup is brought to you by Esther.

Google is giving $3 million to news orgs to fact-check vaccine misinformation — www.niemanlab.org

The Google News Initiative has announced it will give $3 million to news and fact-checking organisations in an effort to combat misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine.

The fund is open to news organisations of any size, as long as they have demonstrable experience with debunking false information, or form a partnership with a fact-checking organisation.

This piece from Nieman Lab gives an overview of the fund and what it's designed for, should you be interested in applying. It also has a brief interview with Google's news and information credibility lead Alexios Mantzarlis, which is worth a read.

Of note is Google's intentions to prioritise publishers who reach groups "disproportionately affected by misinformation". This acknowledges the fact that certain groups are more vulnerable to Covid-19 and vaccine misinformation, and is an important step in tailoring the information to their needs.

As marketer interest rises, Black media brands are investing in growing community coverage — digiday.com

2020 saw a flurry of brands start spending more of their media budgets on Black-focused media outlets as a show of support. The good news is that a number of these publishers are seeing not just a continued interest, but an increase in advertising deals from both new and legacy sponsors.

Are free subscription trials more effective than paid ones? — whatsnewinpublishing.com

Lots of publishers offer free trials as a way to entice people into a paid subscription. But just how effective are they? German news magazine Der Spiegel shares some insights from testing free vs. paid trials, and what works better for converting longer-term readers.

“Housty, how do smaller publications get noticed?” — internationalmagazinecentre.com

It all starts with doing excellent work. Peter's latest advice column for the International Magazine Centre looks at sustainable strategies to help smaller publications get noticed.

This week's podcast:

Axios’ Media Reporter Sara Fischer on crafting informative newsletters and media coverage — voices.media

Sara tells us about her process for writing a thoughtful, informative newsletter, whether Axios’ ‘smart brevity’ model can work for local news, and what lessons she’s taken from covering media companies that she applies to her own work.

Analysis Archives — voices.media

We're working on doing more writing exclusively for Media Voices as a way of sharing case studies and expertise. See it all in one place in our media analysis archive.