Back in April the Google News Initiative Journalist Emergency Relief Fund (JERF) was launched.
The fund sought to provide $39.5 million to publishers in 115 countries and today the Google News Initiative announced that 25 publications from South Africa would receive funding.
Those publications are:
- Cape Times
- Cosmo City Chronicle
- Daily Dispatch
- Daily News
- Daily Voice
- George Herald, Knysna Plett Herald, Oudtshoorn Courant, Mossel Bay Advertiser, Suid Kaap Forum
- Isolezwe
- Klankkoerant
- Mail and Guardian
- Mapepeza Community Newspaper
- Mukurukuru Media
- Post
- Pretoria News
- Seipone Madireng
- Sekhukhune Times
- Soweto Sunrise News
- Sunday Tribune
- The Herald and Weekend Post
- The Mercury
- The Olifants News
- The Saturday Star
- The Star
- Township News
- Voice of the Cape radio
- Wits Vuvuzela
Head of Google News Initiative Innovation, Ludovic Blecher, says that in the first two weeks of launching JERF, 12 000 publishers had applied for relief.
“The massive response gave us the opportunity to understand what ‘local’ means in different parts of the globe and how dynamics ranging from newsroom size to ownership structure can differ depending on the region and the kinds of communities served,” said Blecher.
While we did ask Google’s local representation what percent of the $39.5 million had been reserved for South African publications, that figure is unfortunately not available.
How ever big or small this relief is though, it will surely be helpful for publications.
A Google News Initiative survey found that many publications are exploring alternate revenue streams.
“Advertising continues to be the sole source of revenue for most recipients with 50 percent claiming to be totally advertising dependent. The survey also showed that less than 30 percent operate some form of a paywall while less than 18 percent rely on community contributions or memberships to support their journalism. However, the situation is changing with 60 percent of the recipients planning to diversify their revenue streams through developing subscription, membership or contribution models,” explains Blecher.
We’ve seen this locally with News24 recently announcing it would be shifting toward a subscription model.
While subscription models and paywalls are not new by any stretch of the imagination they are starting to become more common in South Africa. Perhaps this is a sign that South Africans are willing to pay for news after all.
[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]
