Mashable!: Google Donates $5 Million for Innovation in News

Mashable! Founded in July 2005, Mashable is the world's largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news. Mashable is the most prolific blog reviewing new Web sites and services, publishing breaking news on what's new on the web and offering social media resources and guides. Google Donates $5 Million for Innovation in News 26 Oct 2010, 9:10 pm Google announced a donation of $5 million for innovation in digital journalism today — $2 million will go to the Knight Foundation and $3 million will go towards international news efforts. Though the details of Google’s international news donation are to be announced early next year, the $2 million for the Knight Foundation — an organization that focuses on advancing and funding journalism in the digital age — will be broken up by $1 million to help fund the Knight News Challenge and another $1 million for general grant-making for journalism innovation. The Knight News Challenge is a worldwide news innovation competition, which will be distributing $6 million in awards to contest winners. It’s currently looking for submissions with a focus on mobile, sustainability, authenticity and community, and one of the requirements is that they have to be open source, which aligns nicely with Google’s goals in the space. Last year, the Foundation awarded $2.74 million in grants that ranged from real-time ads to crowd-funding to reporting using social media. It’s also supported the likes of DocumentCloud, Spot.Us, and Everyblock. “This is an enormously important vote of confidence by the industry leader. We welcome Google’s support,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president of the Knight Foundation in a statement. “Already, more Americans get their information from the Internet than from newspapers. That trend will only intensify, making it imperative for our democracy that we find ways to effectively deliver the news and information people require on the new, digital platforms.” As media companies struggle to find a sustainable model while more news consumption takes place on the web (with much through the social web), there’s a great need for innovative ideas and approaches to news. So why donate the money? In part, it is policy for Google to donate one percent of profits towards charity, but it’s also a peace offering of sorts to news organizations who have often blamed their woes on the technology giant. As Megan Garber of Nieman Journalism Lab points out, despite years of having a dysfunctional relationship with news organizations, Google’s donation comes as a “multi-million dollar olive branch.” For years, some news organizations accused Google of stealing their news, but recently Google has been reaching out to news organizations for partnerships on projects like Living Stories, which it collaborated on with The New York Times and The Washington Post. Despite working on such partnerships recently, Chris Gaither told Garber the donation is an effort to “encourage innovation at a more grassroots level.” Going forward, with major news organizations cutting back on international resources to produce news, it will be crucial to help fill in a gap. Thumbnail courtesy of iStockphoto, fotosipsak More About: Google, innovation, journalism, knight foundation, News For more Tech coverage: Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Tech channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed.