Notes

European Journalism Unveiled

The Digital News Initiative, formerly known as Google News, was launched in 2021 with the stated goal of improving the quality of news across the board. The name has been changed to reflect its new focus on digital news and how this fits into the wider focus of Google's Internet business. It is not, however, entirely a free service: it costs money to access certain parts of the site. There is also a list of stories, summaries, and bibliography available free of charge. If you are interested in these services, you need to have a Google account.


The Digital News Initiative is a European organization established by Google to support high-quality journalism across the board. It covers an "Innovations Fund" valued at over Euros 150m, that in next year issued grants to 4ior newspapers across Europe. This fund was set up by the European Commission in 2021 as a way to stimulate innovation in the EU. This fund is not open to all but is targeted at media organizations focusing on areas where growth and development are most promising. Among its first projects was a joint venture deal with the Financial Times and the Financial Journal to expand their online coverage.


As agency of the digital news initiative, publishers are being encouraged to take on more responsibility for online media. In the last few years, many publishers, such as the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, have focused more on quality rather than quantity, in terms of content. These changes have helped to reduce the influence of sensationalist stories and other types of "fake news", leading to reduced instances of misleading or downright false information reaching the general public. In addition, publishers have worked to improve the trust people have in mainstream media outlets, and the digital news initiative has been applauded for this.


The Digital news publishing platform started in the UK but is now catching on elsewhere in Europe, including Scandinavia, Germany and Spain. Some US-based publishers have also taken a look at the initiative and published statements supporting it. In the US, there is even a European-wide consortium dedicated to the cause. As of now, though, the initiative seems to be only in its earliest stages, with no clear forward plan to implement any serious changes.


One of the ways the digital news initiative is trying to encourage more publishers to take on more responsibility for online news is through a program called "Venture Social". The idea behind it is simple: if you are a publisher, you can accept funding from a consortium that aims to increase the number of people using social networks and then take on the responsibility of actually building the community around those sites. The idea is that the consortium would fund journalism on the basis that it improved social network usage among its clients. And if it was successful in doing so, these companies could potentially find major success.


But agency of the initiative is in its underlying technologies. Namely, it is based on two things: mobile computing and soft power. Mobile computing refers to the idea that people do not just want to read a newspaper; they want to do business on their smartphones, tablets and other portable devices as well. Soft power is the idea that news organizations can get access to the same information that their editorial staff is using through a single source - the internet.


Given that journalists love to tweet, the opportunity for them to build up their followings on social media - collectively known as "followers" - is massive. This provides publishers with a potentially powerful source of revenue: instead of selling advertising or subscriptions to magazines and newspapers, they can simply sell access to their journalism. Of course, given that the potential for Twitter and other tech companies to profit from this is still theoretical, the question is whether there is room for journalism in a world where the majority of people are largely tethered to their smartphones.


In short, this European initiative is yet another example of how the European Union is leading the way in innovation. If successful, it will be a significant boost to European innovation efforts that were already underway before the vote took place. By increasing agency of publications distributed by media organizations, and making it easier for online users across Europe to access articles, journalists and publishers can fulfill one of the founding purposes of the EPI: informing the general public. If this succeeds, it will only be the latest step in the EU's ongoing commitment to further European development through support for culture and knowledge production.

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