Google has created the Global Initiative for Excellence in Journalism Education, which aims to improve journalism education in 100 African universities.
This was announced by Matt Brittin, Google’s President of EMEA Business and Operations, during the ongoing inaugural Google News Initiative (GNI) for Africa virtual event.
According to the Nigerian News Agency, the GNI for Africa virtual events began on Monday, October 25 and will end on Friday, October 29.
The project to boost journalistic training, according to Brittin, will be conducted in conjunction with UNESCO over the following 18 months.
The journalism training, he said, is geared at keeping journalists up to date.
He said that the journalism training is aimed at updating journalism education programmes in over 100 journalism institutions in Africa.
“The pandemic has changed the way people interact with news and accelerated that shift to digital.
‘’There has never been a time when access to good quality journalism has been more important; this programme will seek to establish, define, and implement the local definitions of excellence in journalism.
‘’We will work with the 100 different journalism schools targeting to benefit over 4,000 journalists,’’ he said.
He said that Google is increasing its investment in and support of journalism in Africa, including a News Lab Teaching Fellow who provides locally relevant training for journalists in Southern Africa.
According to him, there are programs like the Digital Growth Programme and Innovation Challenges that help publishers transition to digital.
Meanwhile, according to Brittin, the GNI event brings together Google and industry professionals to exchange tools, training, and best practices.
It will range from learning how small and medium-sized news organizations can build their digital businesses to how to use consumer insights and data to better understand reader preferences and boost profitability and engagement, according to him.
Google, he claims, has held two successful Innovation Challenges, supporting 43 GNI initiatives in 18 countries.
Guy Berger, Director, Strategies and Policies, Communication and Information, UNESCO said that UNESCO would use its networks of established journalism schools to launch the collaborative programme.
Berger said that the collaborative programme would enable journalists to better respond to the major changes in journalism and publishing in recent times.
”At UNESCO, we have very different countries as members, with different approaches to journalism – but the one thing that at least they all agree on is that journalists should be well-trained,” he said.
NAN also reports that the week-long virtual event will provide an opportunity for journalists, publishers, and content creators in Africa to find out more about Google’s training programmes for journalists and news business professionals.