Google waives ad serving fee, launches journalism emergency relief fund

Search engine giant Google has waived off ad serving fee for news publishers across the world for five months to help them deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said in a blog post. 

Several news outlets globally use Google Ad Manager to keep their businesses running using advertisements. 

The announcement comes shortly after the company rolled out a global journalism emergency relief fund via Google News Initiative to support small and medium-sized news organisations producing original news for local communities.

The funds are aimed towards supporting the production of original journalism for local communities amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Mountain View headquartered company said on its website.

Read: Google commits over $800 mn in ad credits, funds in fight against Covid 19

Google did not specify how much it will pay selected organisations but said the funding amounts will range from the “low thousands for small hyper-local newsrooms to low tens of thousands for larger newsrooms, with variations per region." 

Applications for the grant opened on April 15 and will close on April 29, 2020. 

Read: Google pledges $6.5 mn to curb spread of Covid-19 misinformation

Google is also giving $1 million to the International Center for Journalists and the Columbia Journalism School's Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, which helps journalists deal with the trauma related to crisis coverage. 

Journalists across the world are not only facing job losses as publications streamline budgets, but also other dangers such as assault and imprisonment for reporting on the pandemic. 

In March, social media giant Facebook also announced a $100 million fund to support news industry covering the pandemic.