The Digital News Initiative, formerly known as the European Journalism Contest, is a European organization established by Google to support high-quality independent journalism via innovation and technology. It includes an "Innovator's Fund" worth Euros 150m, which in current years issued first grants to 461 different projects across Europe. This fund was set up to help technology-based new media start-ups create new media and increase the diversity of the information distributed online. There is also a Journalism Fund that supports journalism in the region.The Digital News Initiative aims to build a European network of local digital news websites covering all areas of the news as well as the non-press industry such as restaurants, libraries, and interior design. It is also working on new ways to deliver news online. It has developed new applications that can be used in browsers and smart phones. It collaborates with several non-profit organizations, foundations, and publishers.The key innovation strategy of the digital news initiative is to foster more participation from European Publishers. This is to increase the diversity of the media that is distributed by regional print and electronic publishers. magazine wants to strengthen the role of European online and web based publishers as gateways to the global audience. magazine should support and promote new business models such as publishing quality news stories for free on the internet. They should be encouraged to improve their own entrepreneurial skills and work with innovators in the field.At the moment, there are four working groups working on the digital news initiative. Among them are the Leveraging innovative platforms to create and innovate, the Growing the networks, the European Journalist Network, and the European Creativity Centre. The Leveraging innovative platforms allows publishers to show and discuss their work on social media networks.The Growing the networks will enable the growth of newsrooms across the continent, giving a stronger voice to traditional journalists, while also enabling online reporting. It enables the development of new forms of digital newsroom technology, such as podcasting, videography, and online collaboration tools. The European Journalist Network provides a platform for journalism in Europe. Its mission is to strengthen the voice of European journalism. In the meantime, the European Creativity Centre promotes innovations in the creative industry.The European Journalist Network's role is to support the growth of online newsrooms by providing resources and information to those who need it most. For instance, they provide guidelines to budding online journalists. Ultimately, it helps the wider European community realize that journalism plays a major role in society, and that commercial interests should not outweigh the public's right to know.Finally, the European Journalist's Working Group discusses the importance of European journalism. It highlights the increasing need for up-to-date and comprehensive news coverage. It calls for the need for more aggressive and ambitious measures to protect and promote European journalism. magazine calls for action to mitigate the negative effects of changes to the media landscape such as Digital Single Market strategies and weakening of newspaper market competition.The EJN says that it will continue to monitor and comment on developments within the industry, and will set benchmark assessments to gauge performance against. Its mission is to keep you informed about developments in the media and publishing industry, and to provide an opportunity to share your views. Ultimately, it aims to contribute towards a better society and a better world. To do this in the best way possible, the EJN is looking for visionary and innovative ideas from the business and non-profit sectors, with a focus on issues which affect the functioning of the public, society, economy and environment.
