Due to steep declines in advertising revenues and businesses shutting down as a whole as a result of the worsening economic effects of the pandemic, Google has launched a ‘Journalism Emergency Relief Fund’ as part of its Google News Initiative.
“The Fund’s aim is to support the production of original journalism for local communities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Operating globally, it will provide an easily-accessible route to financial assistance at this critical time,” said Google.
“Funds will be disbursed in one installment, in US dollars or Euros depending on region. Funding amounts will range from the low thousands for small hyper-local newsrooms to low tens of thousands for larger newsrooms, with variations per region,” Google added.
Funds will be provided to outlets who have a focus on core news production. This does not include lifestyle, sports or business-to-business coverage.
Businesses having between 2-100 full-time employees can apply for the funding. Also, the news outlet must have a digital presence and should have been operational for a year.
