Google announces newsroom leadership programme in India

New Delhi: Tech giant Google Monday announced the launch of its first India-focused Newsroom Leadership programme, in collaboration with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

The six-month-long programme, to be conducted virtually in this edition, aims to enhance the leadership skills and nimble decision-making capacity of newsroom leaders working and living in India, the tech giant said in a blog post.

It will particularly focus on applied technology, audience understanding, design thinking, data applications, emerging business models and editorial innovation.

"We look forward to working closely with the news industry and continuing to support authoritative, high-quality journalism in India," said Surabhi Malik, programme Director at Google News Initiative India Training Network, in the blog post.

The participants will gain skills and knowledge to make better strategic decisions for their newsrooms and audiences, she added.

The Asia Pacific-wide programme, launched first in August 2019, is aimed at helping journalists learn digital tools that can make great storytelling even better, championing socially-conscious reporting and investigating new approaches to political polling along with exploring new membership and revenue models for news, helping fund the future of journalism in their countries.

"In 2021, the landscape for news, as with businesses across the spectrum, stands altered. Building viable news businesses for the digital world is now a key priority in newsrooms across the globe, with local realities such as the linguistic diversity of a country adding layers that demand localised approaches," Malik said.

The programme is free of charge for successful applicants - mid-career newsroom leaders working full-time in editorial positions at news organisations in India.

The application window for the programme, starting from April through August, closes on 15 February 2022.