Meet the selection panel for the grant programme with Google News Initiative
Meet the members of the selection committee of the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative. They will play a key role in identifying this year’s grantees.
Members of the selection panel.
We’re thrilled to announce the panel of experts who will form the selection committee for the 2024 JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative.
This panel, consisting of seven industry leaders, will identify 35 news organisations from around the world with the most outstanding AI-driven proposals designed to improve journalistic systems and processes.
The selection panel members are AI and journalism experts and have experience working in one of the three thematic areas central to the programme:
experimenting with new formats across mobile, video, and audio;
identify ways to grow subscriptions and support diverse forms of revenue
help fight misinformation and disinformation
Meet the selection committee
Advisor
Ezra Eeman, Director - Strategy & Innovation, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep
Ezra Eeman is Strategy & Innovation Director at NPO. Ezra has almost 20 years of experience in media, innovation and journalism. Previously he was Change Director at the international media company Mediahuis, where he was responsible for coordinating newsroom transformation and digital acceleration across a wide range of cross-media brands. Before that, Ezra was the Head of Digital, Transformation and Platforms at the EBU, The European Broadcasting Union, worked as head of an innovation lab at VRT, the Flemish public broadcaster and was a journalist and editor in chief at the Flemish commercial broadcaster VTM.
Selection Committee
Elite Tozer Truong, Vice President of Product Strategy, American Press Institute
Elite (e-light) Truong is the Vice President of Product Strategy at American Press Institute, where she manages data products that help local newsrooms make strategic decisions, including Metrics for News and Source Matters. API’s mission is to unite communities and uphold democracy through rebuilding trust with local news organisations and supporting news leaders in doing so. She serves as the Board Secretary for News Product Alliance and is on the advisory board for Democracy Day.
Formerly, she was the Director of Strategic Initiatives at The Washington Post, where she led the newsroom R&D team to capture younger and more diverse audiences by creating projects driven by emerging technologies, including machine learning, artificial intelligence and 3-D and augmented reality, which won awards from SND, World Press Photo. Before joining The Post, Truong spent four years at Vox Media, three as the product manager for off-platform storytelling, primarily negotiating with tech platforms to create user experiences that benefited news consumers.
Kristen Muller, Independent journalist
Kristen Muller is an independent journalist in Southern California, and the former Chief Content Officer of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR). Under her leadership, SCPR transformed from a leading public radio station in Los Angeles into one of the most innovative local journalism outlets in the country, routinely winning national awards for its investigations, digital innovation, community engagement and audio storytelling.
Previously, she worked for CBS News as a producer for the CBS Evening News and associate producer for 60 Minutes II. She is a recipient of the prestigious JSK Fellowship at Stanford University and was a 2018 Columbia University Punch Sulzberger Executive Leadership Fellow. Muller has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Masato Kajimoto, Professor, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, the University of Hong Kong
Masato Kajimoto holds a master’s degree in journalism and a PhD in sociology. He is a professor of practice at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong, specialising in misinformation ecosystem research in Asia, news literacy education, and fact-checking practice. He also serves as an Advisory Board member of the International Fact-Checking Network and the editor-in-chief of Annie Lab, a fact-checking newsroom on campus.
Shea Driscoll, Digital Editor, South China Morning Post
A Hong Kong-based Singaporean journalist, Shea was previously the Post's deputy digital editor and social media editor, and deputy social media editor at Singapore's The Straits Times.
Florencia Coelho, New Media Research & Training Manager at LA NACION
New Media Research & Training Manager at LA NACION (Argentina). JSK Stanford Journalism Fellow 2019 researching on AI for investigative journalism. Data Journalism Handbook I Translation to SpanishCoordinator and Data Journalism Handbook II chapter’s author. General Coordinator & Professor in Data Journalism at Journalist Master’s Degree LA NACION/Universidad Torcuato di Tella. At LA NACION DataTeam since 2010 and The Nature Project since 2019. X: @fcoel
Ferdi Ferhat Özsoy is the Deputy Director of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)
Ferdi Ferhat Özsoy is the Deputy Director of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at The Poynter Institute. With a decade of experience, he plays a key role in overseeing the growth of the IFCN, managing the expansion of the IFCN Code of Principles, and driving initiatives that enhance global fact-checking efforts.
Before joining IFCN, Ferdi co-founded Doğruluk Payı (Share of Truth), Turkey’s first political fact-checking platform, and Veri Kaynağı (Data Source), the country’s open data platform. His project W.A.I.T. amplified the stories of over 120 Syrians in Turkey, combating xenophobia and misinformation through personal narratives. Ferdi holds a dual degree in History and Political Science from CUNY Brooklyn College and an M.A. in International Relations from Istanbul Bilgi University.
A look at the selection process
The JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative, received an impressive 712 applications from news organisations worldwide. The first stage of the selection involved a thorough review by the JournalismAI team, who screened applications based on eligibility and alignment with the programme's objectives.
The shortlisted applications are now in the second round for review by the selection panel and the independent advisor. Each selection panel member is reviewing projects that align with their area of expertise.
The successful grantees will be announced at the JournalismAI Festival 2024.
JournalismAI team
You can find the JournalismAI team working on this particular programme, below. They will work together with the selection committee to select the final list of successful grantees.
*Click on the images to know them a little better.
We look forward to announcing the final grantees and sharing their innovative projects with you. Stay tuned to our website or sign up to our newsletter!