Google on Thursday announced a new Google News Initiative (GNI) Startups Lab programme for aspiring news entrepreneurs from across India.
GNI Startups Lab is a four-month program to help independent local or single-subject journalism organisations find a pathway to financial and operational sustainability through intensive coaching, skills training and other support.
Applications for the Google News Initiative (GNI) Startups Lab India are now open until October 18, 2021 and ten independent digital news publishers will be selected to participate in the first cohort in India.
The program has been created in partnership with the global innovation lab Echos and DIGIPUB News India Foundation and aims to support high-quality reporting for local and underserved communities. It will accept applications from news startups publishing in all Indian languages.
"The 16-week program is tailored to the needs of startup newsrooms in India and participants will benefit from Echos' experience in supporting media startups and from DIGIPUB's network and community with workshops and coaching," Gooe said in a blog post.
"Digipub is excited to partner with Google News Initiative Startups Lab to make the digital media ecosystem robust and sustainable. Digital news media is the future of news in India, and collaborations like these will ensure that new entrants receive the support they deserve," Dhanya Rajendran, Chairperson of Digipub News India Foundation said.
More Indian languages in Google News Showcase
It has also added support for four new Indian languages in Google News Showcase, its online experience and its licensing program to support news organisations and readers expanded to India in May.
These four new languages are Kannada, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.These are in addition to English and Hindi languages supported in dedicated News Showcase panels in Google News and on Discover.
With the addition of these new languages and new partners, the tech giant has now onboarded more than 50 partners representing more than 70 publications, it said.