"This report builds off research conducted in Czechia, Romania, and Serbia by an international team of media experts. The research aimed to identify inspiring and impactful ways that the private sector in these countries is engaging in efforts to counter disinformation and bolster independent journa
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lism. It sought to draw out what motivates the business community to meaningfully support information integrity, and what prevents greater involvement of this group." (Page 1) [...] "The research identified one promising example of a pooled fund created to support independent journalism—the Endowment Fund for Independent Journalism (NFNŽ) in Czechia. Established in 2016 by 12 businessmen who were all part of a local business club, the NFNŽ emerged as a reaction to the negative impact that oligarchization of the Czech media had begun to exert on the country’s democracy, a common concern of all its founders. The declared goal of the endowment’s founders is to maintain media pluralism and independence in Czechia, which they view as a key condition for meaningful political deliberation. The endowment has played a key role both in the philanthropic and journalistic communities in Czechia. A set of internal governance mechanisms ensures transparency of the fund’s actions and accountability of its decisions. As a result of the rigorous procedures, the NFNŽ has attracted financial contributions from around 200 small business donors. The endowment has played a central role in strengthening the health of the local journalistic culture by financing 110 journalistic initiatives to date that received a combined CZK 31 million ($1.4 million). Its projects aim to improve the work of various media outlets, such as the launch of a podcast section by Deník N. The fund also promotes independent journalism in the country. Since 2018, the endowment has organized the Journalist Forum, an annual event that has become the go-to networking venue for many of the country’s journalists." (Page 13)
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"The study shows that the data giant’s rise to become a patron of the media began in France, where, responding to political pressure, it set up a 60-million-euro fund to support press publishers’ innovation projects in 2013. The French fund was the blueprint for the Digital News Initiative (DNI)
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that Google launched throughout Europe in 2015 and whose core element was the 150-million-euros Digital News Innovation Fund that the company used to promote innovation projects from 2015 to 2019. Examining the political context of these funding programmes reveals that Google’s initiatives consistently came about in response to growing political pressure, which the company’s managers describe as a “wake-up call” to the corporation. One key issue is the debate surrounding the introduction of a “Google tax” and an ancillary copyright law. Using publicly accessible sources, newspaper articles, press releases, and discussions with industry representatives and Google, the present study sets out how the French Fund and the European DNI became a global undertaking from 2018: the 300-million-dollar Google News Initiative (GNI) [.] the typical beneficiary of a DNI grant was an established, for-profit, western European publisher. Non-profit media and journalism start-ups were not the focus of funding. Across Europe, some three quarters of the funding millions went to commercial media organisations, the largest share – 21.5 million euros – to Germany. Only four of the 28 large projects to receive funding of more than 300,000 euros in Germany were at regional publishers. At the other end of the spectrum are major publishing empires such as Dieter von Holtzbrinck Medien, Funke Mediengruppe, and Gruner + Jahr, each of whom received between 3 and 10 million euros. More precise figures cannot be provided, since neither Google nor the majority of recipients espouse transparency regarding specific funding amounts." (Summary, page 89-90)
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"Der Suchmaschinen-Konzern ist für die Verlagsbranche beinahe unverzichtbar. Doch Googles Dominanz scheint kaum jemand zu stören. Eine Datenanalyse von netzpolitik.org zeigt, wie Google mit einem 150-Millionen-Euro-Programm den Medienverlagen Honig ums Maul schmiert."
"Both Google and Facebook may argue—and may even believe—that they simply want to help increase the supply of quality journalism in the world. But the fact remains that they are not just disinterested observers. They are multibillion-dollar entities that compete directly with media companies for
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the attention of users, and for the wallets of every advertising company that used to help support the business model of journalism. Their funding and assistance can’t be disentangled from their conflicted interests, no matter how much they wish it could." (https://www.cjr.org)
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"The Digital News Innovation Fund (DNI Fund) is a European programme that’s part of the Google News Initiative, an effort to help journalism thrive in the digital age. The DNI Fund is a €150 million commitment to support and kick-start innovation within the European news ecosystem. Entering its
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third year, the DNI Fund is coming of age, and a community of successful project owners has flourished. We’ve seen projects transform from ideas to remarkable and highly impactful solutions that are already making a difference in newsrooms. In this report, you’ll find a full overview of DNI Fund activity as well as details of many brilliant concepts from across Europe that are tackling four key industry challenges: battling misinformation, telling local stories, boosting digital revenues and exploring new technologies. We hope you enjoy reading about them." (Page 1)
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