Google partners with Columbia Journalism School for leadership programme

Google has forged a partnership with the Columbia School of Journalism for newsroom leadership programme for journalists in Asia. The move was announced by Irene Jay Liu, Google’s News Lab lead for APAC who said they want to help young journalists ‘understand the business of news’. The programme includes four weeks of onsite courses at Columbia University in New York and Google offices in Silicon Valley and Asia. It is aimed at 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 across three topics: technology, monetisation, and data. The tech giant has been investing heavily in its News initiatives in Asia Pacific. Last year it launched an Innovation Challenge aimed at strengthening business models in news organisations across the region. In the end, Google chose 23 projects in 14 countries to provide support with a total investment of $3.2 million. Meanwhile, in India, it launched a Training Network to help 8000 journalists ‘fight the tide’ of fake news.