Google News Initiative (GNI) announced the launch of the Indian Languages Program, a new initiative by Google, designed to support local news publishers in India. The GNI Indian Languages Program is a comprehensive initiative designed to empower publishers through various components, including access to training, technical support, and funding, to help them improve their digital operations and reach more readers. With support for a total of nine languages, including English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Gujarati, and Marathi, this program stands as Google’s most diverse technology program for news publishers.
The GNI Indian Languages Program follows a structured format that includes various components to support and empower publishers. This includes a range of activities, including scaled inspiration series and virtual workshops. These sessions will feature guest speakers, success stories from previous GNI program participants, and Google-led sessions on topics such as Core Web Vitals, website optimization, News Consumer Insights (NCI), YouTube, and more.
Selected publishers will also undergo a diagnosis process to assess their page speed, core web vitals performance, and other relevant parameters. This evaluation will provide unified guidance on quality signals that are essential to delivering a great user experience on the web. Additionally, publishers will receive personalized guidance and support in addressing the identified areas for improvement, including remediation of issues related to Core Web Vitals, schema, site manifests, mobile usability, content formats, and additional revenue enhancement solutions.
In addition, a subset of chosen publishers will benefit from dedicated consultations and technical implementation support to enable best-in-class user experience. This long-term engagement will involve close collaboration with publishers to create a roadmap tailored to their specific needs.
To be eligible for the Indian Languages Program, publishers must meet the following criteria:
- Be a small or medium-sized Indian language news organization that produces original news and is incorporated or registered in India.
- Have an operational website and a minimum of 12 months of continuous operation.
- Have at least 50 full-time employees (FTE).
- Eligible applicants can include for-profit or nonprofit traditional news organizations, digital natives, and broadcasters.
Applications for the GNI Indian Languages Program will be examined by both the Google Project team and external advisors. The Project team will evaluate all submitted applications and, in some cases, work with expert consultants to perform additional analyses and make suggestions for the ultimate selection of recipients. Eligible applicants will be ascertained and communicated to by the Google Project team.
