Posted on October 27, 2010

Knight Foundation Receives $2 Million From Google

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced a $2 million grant from Google in support of its media innovation work.

Over the past five years, the foundation has invested more than $100 million to encourage media innovation on various levels, including national media policy, technology innovation, public media transformation, and the evolution of the World Wide Web. Programs include the Knight News Challenge, a contest that to date has spawned hundreds of community media experiments and other projects. The foundation also hosts the Knight Community Information Challenge, which seeks to engage community foundations from across the country in efforts to meet the information needs of their communities.

In addition, the foundation supports digital programs in libraries around the country that serve as Internet hubs, particularly in underserved communities. In the area of digital literacy, the foundation has helped develop a news literacy curriculum at Stony Brook University. And it has been the main funder of digital training programs for National Public Radio staff as they seek to advance journalism excellence in the digital age.

"Journalism is fundamental to a functioning democracy, and we want to do our part to help fulfill the promise of journalism in the digital age," said Nikesh Arora, president of global sales operations and business development at Google. "There is no better partner to support innovation and experimentation in digital journalism than [the] Knight Foundation."