Indian Weekender’s newsroom is set for a massive digital transformation in the coming months as it bags Facebook’s elite Meta Journalism Project’s Accelerator program – a program led and designed by the social media giant and operationalised on the ground by a group of globally acclaimed journalists of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
The Indian Weekender has been selected as one of New Zealand’s thirteen publication houses which includes the likes of Media Works, Otago Daily Times, Gisborne Herald and others by the Meta Aotearoa News Innovation Advisory Group of five experts from across NZ’s media industry to receive this elite funding and training support from Facebook.
This was announced earlier today by the Facebook in a media release stating that 13 news organisations will take part in the Meta Aotearoa Audience Development Accelerator beginning in March.
“We are proud to announce these dynamic and varied group of participants—serving Maori, regional, digital and diverse communities—as they embark on Aotearoa New Zealand’s first Audience Development Accelerator,” said Andrew Hunter, Meta’s News Partnerships Lead for Australia and NZ.
“This world-class program is platform agnostic and focused on wider strategies and the digital transition of newsrooms. It has made a real difference in improving the sustainability of local newsrooms across the globe. We’ve heard positive feedback from NZ publishers, like The New Zealand Herald, The Spinoff and Newsroom, who attended the earlier Accelerator programs. We’re delighted to extend this new program to 13 further publishers today,” Hunter said.
Rejoicing on this significant development, Indian Weekender Publisher Bhav Dhillon said, “This is a great outcome and testament of the vision and direction that the Indian Weekender has been diligently pursuing for the last many years.
“Our publication had an absolute clarity right from very beginning that the future of news media is irreversibly shifting towards new technologies and digital platforms, and cognisant to this changing consumer reality, we have been investing in developing platforms and human resources, despite extremely restricted return on investments,” Mr Dhillon said.
“This funding and technical support from the social media giant itself will be a great opportunity for the Indian Weekender newsroom to enhance the quality of its digital deliverables and be able to further develop our already existing connections with our readers and viewers across our multiple digital platforms,” Mr Dhillon said.
“It will empower our newsroom to further enhance the level of representation of our Kiwi-Indian and the broader ethnic migrant communities through a targeted digital expansion with support, funding and training from the world-renowned social media giant and the International Center for Journalists.” Mr Dhillon said.
Indian Weekender Founding Editor Dev Nadkarni said, “It is indeed humbling to be selected by a global media giant like Facebook for this program that puts Indian Weekender along with a cohort of some very established media brands in New Zealand.
“This is also a recognition of Indian Weekender’s continual investment in digital technologies, human resources and innovation to connect with readers and viewers across a plethora of digital channels, continually extending reach while yet remaining committed to a traditional channel like print.
“The program will help further hone the skills of our very talented team of journalists and digital creators to transform Indian Weekender’s content offering to the next level, ever widening its reach for the benefit of our communities and businesses.”
What is Meta Aotearoa Audience Development Accelerator?
Facebook had announced Meta Aotearoa Audience Development Accelerator in New Zealand in 2021 as part of its much-acclaimed Meta Journalism Project – which works with publishers around the world to strengthen the connection between journalists and the communities they serve.
Essentially there are three core guiding principles of this elite program including “Building community through news,” “training newsroom globally” and emphasising “quality through partnerships.”
One of the key deliverables under “quality through partnership” involves partnership with news publishers and non-profits to combat misinformation, promote news literacy, fund new initiatives, share best practices, and improve journalism on Facebook’s platforms.
The program is built on three key areas of collaboration and investment — expert workshops, dedicated coaching, and associated grant funding for participating publishers to adopt new initiatives using the lessons gained from the Accelerator. Grants will be provided through the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
What’s next for these publishers?
Participating publishers will begin 10 weeks of virtual training and one-on-one coaching with an industry expert beginning in March 2022. At the end of the 10 weeks, all organisations will be eligible to receive grant funding to implement lessons learned in the program over the following six months. The group will then reconvene to share lessons learned in late 2022.
Over the 10-week training program, expert coaches will help participants optimise their audience development strategies from increasing their reach to new audiences, deepening engagement with existing audiences and generating new paying supporters, depending on the publisher’s needs.
Publishers will then apply for grant funding, provided by Meta and distributed by the International Center for Journalists, to apply the lessons learned in the program over the following three months. The Advisory Group will again guide the assessment of the grant funding applications. Teams will share their outcomes in May 2022.
The Accelerator program is led by Blue Engine Collaborative, a consortium of mission-driven consultants and advisors focused on driving digital audience growth and revenue, founded by Tim Griggs, a former New York Times and Texas Tribune executive.