As part of our efforts to support the news industry, the Google News Initiative is funding a newsroom leadership program at Columbia Journalism School for journalists in Asia Pacific


Not so long ago, journalists had the luxury of focusing on filling the next day’s paper, radio segment or television broadcast, without needing to think about business models, subscriptions, publishing tools and technology. Today’s newsroom leaders need to understand the business of news in order to be stewards of great journalism. Everyone must also think like a publisher.
To help journalists in the Asia Pacific better manage the transition to the digital age, the Google News Initiative has teamed up with the Columbia School of Journalism to offer a curated program to meet their needs.
The program, which includes four weeks of onsite courses at Columbia University in New York City and Google offices in Silicon Valley and Asia, is for mid-career journalists who have the potential to take on larger roles and run their organizations. Each Fellow will also work on a specific project during the year that is relevant to their newsroom within the main fellowship topics: technology, monetization, and data.
Ten fellows from the Asia-Pacific region will learn how to lead through change in this fast-moving environment and identify opportunities for entrepreneurship within their newsrooms. The program will emphasize:
  • How news companies operate as businesses, and how technology has revolutionized what it means to be a publisher.
  • Ways to evaluate the costs and benefits of introducing technology-driven changes into  newsroom workflows, and how to ensure managers and direct reports support new ways of working.
  • The use of data to create compelling content that will resonate with audiences
  • How to facilitate design-thinking in newsrooms using Google's design sprint methodology, which is used to solve problems and develop products
The deadline to apply is June 26, 2019, but journalists are encouraged to submit applications early, as they are considered on a rolling basis. The Google News Initiative is partnering with news industry and journalist organizations around the Asia-Pacific region to shortlist applicants, including the Walkley Foundation, J-Forum, Journalists Association of Korea, Aliansi Jurnalis Independen, and Splice. Shortlisted applicants are interviewed by the Google News Initiative, and a Columbia University faculty member will select the Fellows from among those who meet all the criteria and are presented by GNI and its vetting partner institutions.   
For more information about the program, curriculum and application instructions, visit the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism website. Submit your application here.

Posted by Irene Jay Liu,  News Lab Lead, APAC
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Applications for the class of 2019 are now open, and we’re happy to announce that we are expanding the program to developers from select countries* in Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.


Successful participants will be invited to attend two gaming bootcamps, all-expenses-paid at the Google Asia-Pacific office in Singapore, where they will receive personalized mentorship from Google teams and industry experts. Additional benefits include Google hardware, invites to exclusive Google and industry events and more.

Find out more about the program and apply to be a part of it.
* The competition is open to developers from the following countries: Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Turkey, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Posted by Anuj Gulati, Developer Marketing Manager and Sami Kizilbash, Developer Relations Program Manager
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Towards this goal, we have taken a number of important steps and introduced three principles to guide the news experience on YouTube.


Make authoritative sources readily available
We know authoritativeness is essential to our viewers, so we’ve been investing in new product features to prominently surface authoritative sources across the platform. Our Top News shelf prominently highlights videos from authoritative news sources in search results.  And when a breaking news event happens, we want users to know about it. That’s why our Breaking News shelf highlights videos from authoritative news organizations about that event directly on the YouTube homepage. Both features are currently launched in more than 30 countries, including India in both English and Hindi.
Top News & Breaking News


Provide context to help people make their own decisions:
When users come to YouTube, we believe they should be able to make their own decisions about the information they consume.  We want to provide context alongside content on our platform to help users make more informed judgments, which we've done by introducing a wide range of information panels on certain events, topics, and publishers alongside search results and videos.
We recently expanded our information panels to bring fact checks from eligible publishers to YouTube in India in English and Hindi. This specific information panel aims to provide context on fresh topics that are prone to misinformation. The fact checks we surface rely on the open source Schema.org ClaimReview markup process. By following this process, any eligible publisher can contribute fact check articles that could show in search results on Google Search, Google News, and now, YouTube.
Fact Checking Integration on YouTube in English and Hindi
And today, we are taking another small step in our efforts by rolling out additional information panels in English and Hindi. If a channel is owned by a news publisher that is funded by a government, an information panel will surface that indicates that the publisher is “funded in whole or in part" or a “public broadcast service”, with a link to the publisher's Wikipedia page. Our goal is to equip users with additional information to help them better understand the sources of news content that they choose to watch on YouTube. This information panel will be displayed on the watch page of all the videos on its channel.


Support journalism with technology that helps news to thrive
Finally, we know quality journalism requires sustainable revenue streams, so we believe we can and must do more to support quality journalism and the news industry through innovation in technology.  At YouTube we have committed $25M to the news industry, as a part of a broader $300M investment by the Google News Initiative.


In December, we announced funding to 87 news projects from 23 countries around the world to build stronger video capabilities and innovate with new video formats.  And 10 of these projects came from India. We are also investing in expanded support from YouTube specialists to support news partners grow their presence on YouTube, from providing training to helping with sophisticated technical integrations.
We believe these positive steps will improve your experience of consuming news on YouTube and we look forward to continuing our close partnership with India’s news industry, as we continue our efforts in this space.

By Tim Katz, Director, Head of News Partnerships, YouTube
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Gold is core to Indian culture and tradition, making India the world’s second largest consumer of gold. Indians buy gold to mark auspicious occasions each year.

To make Google Pay even more useful, you can now buy and sell gold, securely from your phone, right within Google Pay!

Backed by MMTC-PAMP India, the country’s only LBMA accredited gold refinery, users can buy 99.99% 24 karat gold, right within the app. The gold, which can be purchased for any value, is stored on behalf of the user, by MMTC-PAMP, in secure vaults and can be sold at any time at the latest price, refreshed every few minutes, as displayed on Google Pay.



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Buy gold securely on Google Pay with a few taps

This feature is created for millions of Indians who buy gold especially during festivals like Akshaya Tritiya, Dhanteras or Diwali. Now, the purchase of gold is possible, right on your mobile phone, from wherever you are. No need to visit a jeweller during a busy festive occasion.

We’re very excited to design this feature  especially to meet specific needs of Indian users, and we look forward to learning from your feedback!

Posted by Ambarish Kenghe, Director - Product Management, Google Pay, India
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