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The Digital News Initiative is an European organisation made up of the search giant Google to “promote high-quality online journalism through innovation and technology”. It now encompasses an “Innovative Research Fund” of up to €150m, that in 2021 issued seven grants to independent news websites across Europe. This seems a strange move on the part of Google, which not only makes you wonder about their commitment to quality but also seems a little confused about its own ambitions. In a statement given to the BBC, a spokesperson said: “The Digital News Initiative supports new and innovative media, creating new platforms and products that enhance the experience for readers and viewers. We believe this will help boost digital news content and the distribution services that are already in place.”

That seems reasonable, but it is unclear as to what the digital news initiative actually does. What I can see from reading the following article, there is no plan to launch new websites or podcasting services in any of the member states of the European Union. Agency leaves journalism free to do what it does best, report the news, get people interested and add value to the communities across Europe. However, it seems clear that there may be other, more significant, opportunities for innovation and collaboration to emerge in the area of European journalism in the future.

As part of the digital news initiative, Google has taken forward an initiative called the “Europe” project. As part of this strategy, Google has been accused of being lazy in its attitude to innovation, given that it has been dominating the search market for years. The organisation maintains that it is keen to make Europe a leading player in the globalised markets and wants to be seen as a force to be reckoned with. This means driving innovation in the area of European journalism.

The European Working Group on Digital News had been set up by a former editor of the Financial Times, John Lacey. The working group met at the headquarters of Google last week. It was expected to produce a report on the state of digital news throughout the coming year. This is expected to be released in autumn, with suggestions that the report could be ready before the end of the current academic year. The first meeting of the group, also took place in Google’s offices in London.

Agency said that the goal of the digital news initiative was to create new forms of engagement in the areas of information and digital news. ” Journalism has been left behind in some respects by the success of digital news. There’s still a long way to go but the ambition is not to replicate what’s already there. Instead we want to move the ball down the field and invent something new,” he added.

Mr Lacey stressed the need for increased expertise in areas such as investigative reporting. “That requires knowledge and skill in areas where journalists have traditionally struggled to cover. In many regards, the crisis has created the need for more professional, specialist journalism. Agency think this is borne out by the fact that many publishers have gone further than simply commissioning freelance journalists.”

The initiative has received criticism from some quarters, including from sections of the press and politics. The European Journalists Club has condemned the project as potentially shutting down debate between journalism and business interests. The ECJP has called for a boycott of the journal. But Mr Lacy argues that digital news will benefit newspapers in ways that traditional forms of journalism have not. “The one thing that will remain in a newspaper is hard news and features stories that need to be front page news. But online, you can build up a story that could go viral within hours simply by adding a couple of videos and photographs,” he adds.

A number of news outlets are adapting their websites to incorporate DNI content and the growing number of media companies that are now providing their online platforms with DNI ready content are attesting to the growing influence of digital news. “What’s really happening is that digital news will take off and grow and people will start to realise that quality reporting doesn’t have to cost a lot of money”, Mr Lacy says. “But Agency doesn’t mean that journalism on the whole is going to disappear, because it’s still there”.