Jang Media Group wins Innovation Challenge Grant from Google
Jang Media Group is the only organisation chosen from Pakistan for the honour
March 28, 2019
ISLAMABAD: In a singular honour for the Pakistan media industry, the Jang Media Group has been declared a winner of the Innovation Challenge Grant by Google.
Over 215 news organisations and technology companies were considered from the Asia Pacific region, and Jang Media Group is the only organisation chosen from Pakistan.
As part of the project, the Jang Media Group will develop state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) platforms for digitising its historical news archives. The project is similar in scale and ambition to the New York Times' collaboration with Google in digitising its news archives.
According to Kate Beddoe, Head of News and Publishing Partnerships at Google, “We want to support innovators in this space -- those who are pioneering approaches that involve everything from granting digital currency to subscription-based membership models.”
While discussing the challenge, Ludovic Blecher, the head of Google News Initiative Innovation Challenges, said, “Looking at ways to help this industry-wide transition to digital, last year we launched the Google News initiative, along with a $300 million commitment to help journalism thrive.”
According to Dr Umar Saif, Chief Digital Officer of Jang Media Group, “This not only recognises Jang Media Group’s innovative agenda for digital transformation, it also enables us to leverage Google’s expertise in content digitisation, archiving, visualisation and search.”
News organisations worldwide are going through a radical digital transformation. Technologies for creating, curating and disseminating news are evolving at a fast pace. Platforms for access to timely information, engagement with the reader and innovative monetisation models are becoming vital for news organisations globally. At the same time, in the face of fake news and unmoderated social media content, news organisations need to uphold high journalistic standards while retaining user interest.
The Google Innovation Challenge Grant will further strengthen the collaboration between the Jang Media Group and Google. Jang Media Group has previously been showcased twice as a global example of innovation in Google Developer Conferences in 2016-2017.
