The Digital News Initiative (D NI) is a European organisation established by Google to support high-quality digital journalism across Europe. It encompasses an “innovation fund” worth Euros 150m, that in 2021 released grants to 4 principles organisations at leading news organisations in Europe. These are the European Journalism Union, the European Information Society, the European Mediawatch and the European Press Agency. There are also foundation partners in the core areas of videography, visual media and online services. The initiative is backed by Google and launched by the UK government.

The Digital News Initiative was established by three luminaries. They were Marina Sechi, vice president of the European Journalism Organisation; Sir Peter Czerne and Sir Martin Sorbrough, former editor-in-chief of the Financial Times. They wanted to provide a forum for forward thinking digital news publishers in Europe to pool ideas and innovations.

The first beneficiaries were Belgian company La Garderie and its director, Philippe Chevignon. They applied for a EUR 150m innovation fund to improve their investigative reporting. Their submission won the Innovation award and was later selected as one of the priorities of the newly-minted European Journalism Organisation. The next recipient was Finnish publishing house Mankiwi, who proposed a project based on open source software development and citizen journalism. It was later selected as the priority of the European Journalism Union.

The following beneficiaries are from Russia, where the first digital news was published in 2021. The format of the news report was published in traditional media and included local content. It was called VRE, the first Internet Radio Station. The second recipient was the Swiss army, HEL MBT, that started using the Internet for its mobile communication. The working group later became the EU IN reporter programme.

Another big leap forward came from France, where the first online journalism was launched in 2021. This time, it was a magazine . This year, the magazine has gone international, bringing in subscribers from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The growth was particularly remarkable given that French publications rarely focus on business and finance. It seems that France, like other countries in the region, has become more receptive towards the innovative edge of the publishing industry. Other countries are now following suit.

From the point of view of the business interests, it looks that the direction of global journalism is looking increasingly rosy. The growth is happening both in online and offline. There is a marked increase in the number of newspapers being published. There are also increasing numbers of websites, as well as podcasting, and pod casts. Digital technologies allow viewers to access content directly from television stations, and there is even a growing presence of internet TV in the region.

There is hope for European journalism in the digital age. The creation of the European media standards has helped. Many publishers have made it clear that they want to continue to provide a solid voice for Europe and its citizens. Many have already done so, creating dedicated bureaus that focus on specific topics or regions. For example, in Germany there is a broadcasting authority that oversees many local stations, and the organization is working very hard to make sure that the public broadcasting system continues to evolve and improve.

It is clear that the future for European journalism looks bright. However, even with this development there are limits to what can be published and broadcasted. The expansion of the digital world means that some topics are likely to remain off limits, such as political or economic matters. This is particularly true for countries that are not members of the European Union. But, even if they are included in the future, it will be many years before their voices are heard by the masses. Only time will tell whether European journalism can reach its full potential, but publishing houses all over the world are doing their part to ensure that it does.