Google today announced new actions to strengthen journalism in Brazil, including unprecedented support for the production of the seventh edition of News Atlasthe launch of journalistic products to combat disinformation created within the scope of the Codesinfoand the opening of registrations for programs aimed at developing digital products and monetizing media outlets.
Balance of 2024: artificial intelligence and training
The company presented an overview of the initiatives carried out throughout 2024, with emphasis on investments in artificial intelligence, support for small and medium-sized local newsrooms and training programs aimed at revenue diversification and journalism sustainability.
One of the examples of impact is the work of FALA Network!which trained more than 10 thousand journalists in digital tools, reaching professionals in more than 240 Brazilian cities.
“This year, we saw incredible and unprecedented projects in the world, carried out in partnership with journalistic vehicles, becoming a reality in Brazil”, he says Fabiana Zannihead of news partnerships at Google in Brazil. “We have started to introduce technologies based on artificial intelligence in projects that are helping journalists and newsrooms as a whole to enhance the work they do. We have consolidated our work to scale training programs in digital products, business strategies, including audience understanding and revenue generation, for hundreds of local and regional outlets across the country.”
News Atlas and vehicle certification
Google announced support for News Atlaswhich will map news deserts in Brazil in its seventh edition, with results scheduled for July 2025. In addition, vehicles approved in the Public Commitment Indicator Programfrom Projor, started displaying certification seals on their pages.
“The program identified that only 12% of the vehicles evaluated publish an error correction policy, which reinforces the need to improve transparency and standards in the market,” points out the report.
Technology against disinformation
O Codesinfoa project supported by Google and Projor, created five open source solutions to combat misinformation, available on GitHub. Already the To the Facts launched the tool Fact Searchwhich analyzes videos and transcribes speeches to verify political allegations, and expanded its virtual assistant Fatimawhich will now be integrated into all pages on the site.
The agency Forget expanded the LupaScanan AI tool to monitor social networks and identify misinformation and hate speech. The new feature allows real-time transcription of live broadcasts, making it easier to check debates and hearings.
Training programs and new registrations
In 2024, the program Startups Lab supported 15 news startups focused on local and civic coverage, offering training on business strategies and digital products. Google announced two new programs:
- Digital Product Development Journeyfor newsrooms looking to launch products aligned with their goals.
- Data and Monetization Laboratoryto optimize analysis and revenue generation tools.
“We have had several incredible success stories that show impressive leaps in audience and revenue growth through experimentation or implementation of new business models with smaller or locally operating outlets that participated in the Startups Lab, our training sessions or one of our labs offered by Brazil”, says Zanni.
Continued commitment
“Google has extensive work to support journalism and we work on several fronts: contributing to the work of the reporter who is investigating information to the executive who is outlining new strategies for the vehicle”, says Fabiana Zanni. “It is very gratifying to see that this effort has an impact on journalism and is effectively contributing to expanding access to quality information, which is the mission we have as a company.”
Find out more about the projects on the official Google Brazil blog.
