Google: A new nationwide training partnership with the National Union of Journalists

Google understands the pressure for journalists to stay across a range of new tools, and its Google News Lab team has trained 16,500 UK journalists and journalism students since 2015, with a focus on providing workshops outside of London.

Its partnership with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), announced in summer 2022, will build on these efforts, and focus on helping local journalists across the UK and Ireland develop both their journalism and leadership capabilities. This will include delivering 13 in-person workshops nationwide, and 30 virtual digital skills workshops to ensure the training is fully accessible to all.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “This partnership is an opportunity to improve the digital skills of our members, in particular by using technology to verify the authenticity and accuracy of images, videos and reports on social media and elsewhere online – an essential skill for a modern and ethical journalist. The training will also help mid-career members to progress towards leadership roles, with a particular emphasis on groups underrepresented within the industry’s management – women, Black and minority ethic, disabled and working-class journalists.”

Partnering with PA Media on digital skills

Ensuring training programmes reach groups that are underrepresented in journalism is important if UK newsrooms are to better reflect the communities they serve. That’s why Google is proud to sponsor the National Council for the Training of Journalists’ Journalism Diversity Fund and to have helped support 200 aspiring journalists from diverse backgrounds through their training and into local newsrooms such as WalesOnline, Barnsley Chronicle and Newcastle World.

Google has launched a partnership with PA Media to offer more targeted support for underrepresented groups across two key areas: digital skills and misinformation. Google sponsored 25 places on PA Media’s four-week summer school for students from underrepresented backgrounds, with a particular focus on reaching students in Westminster and Camden – as well as a series of training festivals for 500 journalists. The company is also supporting PA Media to develop a new training curriculum to help journalists tackle misinformation as part of their daily news gathering processes.

Alongside these partnerships, Google provides direct funding to support innovation in local news via its Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge for Europe, YouTube Creator Programme for Independent Journalists and Global News Equity Fund.

Google is excited to see the impact these news projects have and to keep working with its local partners to help ensure a vibrant future for local British journalism.