Google Offering Training Services for Hyperlocal News in Europe

by admin May 12, 2009 at 6:58 pm

What can be done to help professional news organizations survive in this internet era? The New York Times made mention this weekend of a particularly interesting project in the Czech Republic. Google is providing local staff to train reporters in one hyperlocal news network in the use of services like Google Maps, Google Translate and YouTube.

An Amsterdam based holding company called PPF and the Paris based World Association of Newspapers are funding a fascinating project that will launch 30 different websites covering hyperlocal news throughout the Czech Republic. Google will provide technical training and the sites will run AdSense in exchange. In order to maximize contact with the local community, the project has hired 90 mostly young reporters who will work out of offices with public coffee and internet shops built into the facilities.

Read more: readwriteweb.com