When a journalist exposes corruption, reports on conflict or covers a public health crisis, we see the results. But we don’t see what is needed behind the scenes to do that work: the technical systems required to actually reach audiences, the digital security that protects content and audiences, the operational structures that keep organisations running and much, much more.
Many independent news and information providers simply lack the resources to build or afford that kind of vital infrastructure, and, as a result, the credible independent voices we depend on are disappearing.
That’s why we’re thrilled to share that 30 organisations from five regions are now working with the Plus Hub to close that gap. Participants in Google’s Global News Gaps Project, launched last year, were offered spots in this cohort. They will receive multi-layered foundational support to strengthen their owned and operated presence and audience relationships: the kind of groundwork every outlet needs but few can access on their own.
Ten outlets from the UK and Europe, five from Sub-Saharan Africa and fifteen from South and Southeast Asia will collaborate with Plus Hub experts and each other to build and troubleshoot the systems they need to do their important work. Our Plus Hub will help these outlets understand their audiences better and strengthen both their owned and operated presence (the sites, newsletters and apps where they reach people directly) and the technological infrastructure behind it.
- In Ukraine, GRUNT explains how power works and presses for public accountability, pairing analytical journalism on governance and reform with tools that help citizens act on it. More than 500,000 people follow its work across platforms, and the Hub will help GRUNT turn that reach into an audience it knows directly and owns.
- Our City News, which covers Johannesburg and only Johannesburg, reporting on how the city is governed and on the water and power failures that hit rich and poor alike, will work with the Hub on the measurement behind its newly relaunched site and on growing the newsletter that anchors its direct relationship with readers.
- Geneva Health Files, which reports on how global health policy actually gets made and is funded by the diplomats and experts who read it, will work with the Hub on bringing its newsletter, archive and public site into one coherent presentation of its work, and on the analytics underneath it.
- The Probe, an Indian outlet whose long-form reporting on elections, public health, corruption and the rights of people at the margins is measured by what changes afterwards, will work with the Hub on the content management system and search foundations that get that reporting read.
More about the Plus Hub
The Plus Hub is a shared services initiative from the Plus alliance, built so that small and medium information providers get the same kind of technical support and infrastructure that only large organisations can normally afford. Hub technical teams work alongside news organisations, providing hands-on support and co-implementation that let them address the fundamental issues that keep them from reaching audiences, becoming sustainable, and that take precious time and energy away from their journalism.
In addition to Foundational support (markets, audience and publishing tech), the Hub provides Innovational (AI, formats, revenue) and Operational (security, organisational systems, fundraising) infrastructure.
Part of the Plus Hub’s uniqueness is the deep-dive audit we perform on potential Hub participants, using a framework that scores across 6 dimensions and 19 sub-categories. The audit helps us understand at a granular level what organisations need and how we can work hand-in-hand with them to solve their specific problems.
Later this year, the Plus Hub will launch cohorts for Anglophone and Hispanic outlets across the Americas, followed by Francophone and Arabic-speaking outlets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Plus’s DNA has made us uniquely positioned to design and run the Hub. We built it based on the expertise of the organisations that make up our alliance: Code for Africa, ICFJ, PROTO and now the European Journalism Centre. We already have much of the structure in place to support up to 100 organisations in the Plus Hub’s first year.
The Plus Hub is seed-funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and ICFJ’s It Takes a Journalist fund, with additional support from the Google News Initiative, which funds this Foundational Cohort.
