By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
Google Philippines gathered the Philippines’ top broadcast, print, and online media to share more efficient ways to conduct news gathering using the internet.
The worldwide Google News Initiative (GNI), which works with various news agencies spearheaded a workshop for Philippine news organizations in the use of online platforms held on August 14 at the Google Philippines office in BGC Taguig City.
The 48 journalists were given the opportunity to listen to the presentations of various resource speakers who shared how to utilize and take advantage of the technology available from Google Search and Tools.
Irene Jay Liu, Google Asia Pacific’s Newslab Lead addressed the journalists through a video call to introduce the GNI concept. Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) Asia’s Regina Hing then led the group in trying out the various tools to search for information while refining processes for news gathering more quickly.
Participants in the ground-breaking Google training for journalists included Atom Araullo of GMA News, Ces Drilon of ANC/ABS-CBN, digital teams from CNN Philippines, News 5, UNTV, Inquirer, PhilStar, Manila Bulletin, Manila Times, and Malaya.
Internet-based news organizations in the GNI class included Rappler, Good News Pilipinas, The Philippine Business and News, Esquire Philippines, Adobo Magazine, Cosmo Philippines, Newsbytes, Inside Digital, and blog site When in Manila.
While student publications were also present at the training including teams from the University of Asia and Pacific, De La Salle-College of St. Benilde’s The Benildean, De La Salle University’s The Lasallian, and the University of Santo Tomas’ The Varsitarian.
Speaking to THEPHILBIZNEWS, Mervin Wenke underscored the importance of verifying the facts before publishing or broadcasting. This is the very reason why Google News Initiative is established to help journalists thrive in the digital age given the prevalence of fake news, misinformation and disinformation.
He also noted that the workshop they staged will provide media organizations and journalists with readily available digital tools and technological innovation for news reporting.
“I am sure, all our journalists who are part of the Google News Initiative Class of August 2019 workshop learned from this and will utilize the tools for verification of information and images that would elevate and strengthen quality journalism, and make trustworthy information stand out,” Wenke added.
The Google News Initiative’s partnership with the Asian American Journalists Association is aimed at training more media practitioners to scale the initiative and ensure that the news that the public receives are really based on facts.