As the news industry deals with job cuts, furloughs and cutbacks as a result of the economic downturn prompted by COVID-19. The Google News Initiative wants to help and has launched a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to deliver urgent aid to thousands of small, medium and local news publishers globally.

The funding is open to news organizations producing original news for local communities during this time of crisis, and will range from the low thousands of dollars for small hyper-local newsrooms to low tens of thousands for larger newsrooms, with variations per region. 

Starting today, publishers everywhere can apply for funds via a simple application form. They’ve made it as streamlined as possible to ensure they get help to eligible publishers all over the world.

Applications will close on Wednesday April 29, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. At the end of the process, they’ll announce who has received funding and how publishers are spending the money. 
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