Google Starts Giving Millions to Struggling Local Newsrooms

Advertising is drying up for newsrooms of all sizes amid the coronavirus pandemic, but local newsrooms are especially hard hit, so Google is earmarking some funding aimed at stemming the flow of closures and layoffs at small media operations. The search giant — which makes most of its own revenue on advertising and is frequently pointed to, rightly or not, as the cause of many a media outlet’s financial problems — has selected about 5,000 smaller newsrooms to benefit from its new Journalism Emergency Relief Fund. Part of the Google News Initiative started two years ago, JERF was essentially a quick pivot of that team in an effort to help smaller local news operations severely impacted by the coronavirus’ economic effects. At least 116 U.S. newsrooms, many of them local, have enacted layoffs, pay cuts or closed outright due to the pandemic, according to a running tally by Poynter. That outlet also estimates that 36,000 reporters, journalists and editorial workers have lost jobs due to the pandemic. Chrissy Towle, Google’s head of news and local media, said she and the team of about 300 she worked with on the fund and the sorting of applications were “very surprised” by how many submissions

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