2023 was a 12 months like no different. Publishers throughout Central and Jap Europe (CEE) discovered new methods to deploy the most recent know-how for progress whereas journalists continued to assist their readers make sense of what was taking place round them, usually utilizing know-how to kind reality from fiction.
As we speak we’re sharing what we heard from publishers and journalists throughout CEE this 12 months and supply a sneak peek of what’s to come back in 2024.
1. Publishers have a renewed deal with coaching and growth
We’ve been partaking in partnerships throughout the area to make sure that publishers have the abilities wanted to deploy new know-how to speed up progress. Along with Poland’s Press Publishers Chamber as co-organisers, we delivered a two-day lengthy Google Information Initiative (GNI) enterprise coaching for 48 small and medium publishers on the matters of viewers growth and reader income. We’re aiming to proceed the programme in early 2024.
And to assist foster the spirit of innovation, the Google Information Initiative launched the Startups Lab for Jap Europe with 14 information startups taking part in an intensive six-month programme centered on rising subscribers and constructing sustainable enterprise fashions.
We additionally delivered a bespoke AI design dash coaching for publishers in London, with six individuals from CEE. We’ll deliver the mannequin to Central and Jap Europe in 2024, in collaboration with Mixer, our longstanding coaching associate.
2. Journalists are searching for new methods to reality examine and confirm information
The significance of belief in journalism can’t be underestimated, not simply due to dynamics on this planet — from wars, to pandemics, to 2.5 billion folks going to the polls in 2024 — however as a result of the problem of misinformation is evolving.
Pinpoint, a analysis software we constructed for journalists that’s powered by the perfect of Google’s Search and AI applied sciences, was used this 12 months by our Baltic companions to sort out a few of their most tough tales. For instance, Lithuanian publishers 15min and Delfi Lithuania used Pinpoint to help in an investigation.
In 2023, we partnered with media literacy leaders to offer greater than 3,800 CEE journalists with reality checking or superior technical coaching to identify misinformation earlier than it spreads. This included an election-related misinformation course for 500 native journalists, organized by our associate Demagog Poland forward of the pivotal Polish election in October.
Subsequent 12 months, we are going to present additional assist to journalists and publishers overlaying essential elections within the area, in addition to serving to struggle organized misinformation campaigns in Ukraine and past. In Ukraine, we’ll associate with StopFake and VoxUkraine, the nation’s two foremost fact-checking organizations, to ship well timed coaching and assets.
3. Native gatherings may help construct bridges and share insights
Within the complicated CEE media panorama, we’ve discovered it useful to seek out alternatives to deliver information leaders collectively to debate shared challenges and alternatives. This 12 months, we hosted six bespoke writer days and gatherings in Bucharest, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Warsaw and Tallinn.
We additionally convened media literacy leaders throughout CEE on the Combating Misinformation On-line occasion in Bratislava, the place individuals mentioned new methods for preventing disinformation campaigns. We additionally introduced a brand new long-term partnership with Transitions to extend the resilience of the older inhabitants in Czechia and Slovakia to disinformation.
