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The Global Editors Network (GEN) was an international association of over 6,000
editors-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
and media executives with the mission of fostering digital innovation in newsrooms all over the world. GEN had three main programmes: Editors Lab, the Data Journalism Awards, Startups for News, as well as an upcoming hub for the international data journalism community. The organisation’s flagship event, the GEN Summit, gathered over 830 participants from 70 countries. The GEN newsletter was read weekly by more than 13,800 subscribers. It is a non-profit, non-governmental association.
Its goal was to empower newsroom leaders to innovate by breaking down the barriers between traditional and new media. GEN also strived to demonstrate the value of data journalism so that information can be gathered and shared to define an open journalism model for the future, and create new journalistic concepts and tools.
The GEN Community was launched in September 2014. The GEN Community website enabled people to connect, share, compare, collaborate on new media projects. Prototypes from the Editors Lab program and the Data Journalism Awards were also featured on the GEN Community. There were more than 1,600 projects and 3,900 members on the GEN Community. The GEN Community was supported by the Open Society Foundations.
GEN was established to respond to the increasing risks journalism faces, as media must be relevant and constantly innovate. Its role was to gather editors with different knowledge sets and to start a dialogue with engineers, developers and digital innovators. Its founding members were leading editors and top executives at ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'',
''El País'',
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'', ''
Aftenposten
( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...
'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',
''Clarìn'', and many other media brands worldwide. It was a
nonprofit organisation
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
, financed through grants, membership, participation to the annual GEN Summit, sponsorship and donations.
The Global Editors Network announced on 7 November 2019 that it would cease its activities due to a lack of sustainable finances.
Mission
GEN's objective was to promote newsroom innovation, foster new
storytelling
Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...
methods, and define the future of journalism by empowering editors-in-chief and senior news executives when working with publishers, media owners and news suppliers, as the delivery of news migrated to digital platforms. Editors on all platforms were confronted with the same challenges in news production. It was more obvious every day that they are members of the same community, all driven by a journalistic imperative and a common goal: how to invent tomorrow's journalism and to make it sustainable.
The senior news executives who founded the Global Editors Network (GEN) were convinced that news producers and newsrooms across all platforms –
print, broadcast, online, mobile and wire services – face comparable challenges. The association encouraged multilateral cooperation and collaborated with media development bodies and international journalism associations.
Activities
The GEN Summit conference gathered every year more than 750
editors-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
, journalists, data journalists,
developers,
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
s, and
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
s., and became one of the most popular media conferences. This conference also included the Data Journalism Awards ceremony, one of the main programmes of GEN, along with Startups for News, and the Editors Lab final.
The GEN Summit took place in the following cities:
* 27–30 November 2011:
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
* 30 May-1 June 2012 and 19–21 June 2013:
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
* 11–13 June 2014 and 17–19 June 2015:
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
* 15–17 June 2016:
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
* 21–23 June 2017: Vienna
* 30 May–1 June 2018: Lisbon
The GEN Summit 2019 took place in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
, from the 13th to the 15th of June at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.
The Data Journalism Awards, the first international contest recognising outstanding work in the field of data journalism. In 2015, a total of 14 winners were selected from a shortlist of 78 by a jury panel led by Paul Steiger from
ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
. In 2016, 12 winners were chosen among 471 submissions. In 2017, 12 winners were chosen among 573 submissions. In 2018, 12 winners were chosen among 630 entries from 58 countries.
The Data Journalism Den was a global hub solely dedicated to data journalism. It was a place built for journalists, coders, designers, experts, consultants, companies, foundations, volunteers, NGOs, and everyone involved or interested in the use and development of data journalism.
The Editors Lab, a worldwide series of hackathons where teams of journalists, designers and developers compete in the development of innovative journalism tools, content and apps. These are hosted by newsrooms all over the world. Past editions were in:
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
,
UK,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, Germany, Indonesia, India, and more. The Final occurs during the GEN Summit and gathers the winning teams of each Editors Lab event. The purpose of Editors Lab is to ″break the barriers between the editorial and technical teams.″. The Editors Lab program partnered with Rappler for the sake of providing hackathons for Southeast Asian Nations.
Startups For News is an international competition that rewards the most innovative startups disrupting the media industry. GEN selects startups that challenge the status quo with new editorial services for newsrooms or new ways of delivering journalistic content. During the GEN Summit, the winning startups from each category have the opportunity to pitch their work to GEN’s network of media innovators. The startups are also able to showcase their product in a dedicated ‘Startups for News’ area at the GEN Summit exhibitors room. The winner of the Startup For News Final 2015 was SourceRise, and Trint, a transcription company, won in 2016. In 2017, the startup Flourish won, while Urbs Media was a runner-up in the competition. In 2018, Vigilant won the competition.
In 2018, GEN partnered with the
European Forest Institute
The European Forest Institute (EFI) is an international organization established by the European states.
It has 30 Member Countries, and c. 130 member organizations from 40 different countries working in diverse research fields. EFI provides fore ...
to launch the pilot project Lookout360°, which supports journalists produce 360-degree videos on climate change and people’s lives. Lookout360° is the pilot project of a 6-month immersive storytelling accelerator programme. It combines in-field training and 3-month mentorship to support journalists produce immersive stories with a focus on climate change.
Climate Publishers Network – Ahead of the UN Climate Change Summit (COP21) in Paris, 25 media organisations from around the world created a new publishers network to collaborate on their coverage of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. The initiative was coordinated by the Global Editors Network. The Climate Publishers Network (CPN) provided a mutual syndication of articles related to
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
free of charge during the run-up to
COP21
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Conve ...
. Each media organisation was able to re-publish material without having to worry about license fees.
Digital Journalism
Massive open online course
A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, m ...
(MOOC), in French, in conjunction with
Rue89
Rue89 is a French news website started by former journalists from the newspaper ''Libération''. It was officially launched on 6 May 2007, on the day of the second round of the French presidential election. Its news editor is Pascal Riché, forme ...
and First Business MOOC. GEN has coordinated three MOOCs since the launch.
GEN Study Tours – Launched in 2013, the study tours programme aims to help discovery and practice sharing between editors.
Board members
The 14 GEN Board Members were executives from news organisations such as Mic,
ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
,
El País
''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
, ''Clarín'',
Rappler
Rappler (portmanteau of the words "rap" and "ripple") is a Filipino online news website based in Pasig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa along with a group of fellow Filipino journalists ...
,
Cheddar
Cheddar most often refers to either:
*Cheddar cheese
*Cheddar, Somerset, the village after which Cheddar cheese is named
Cheddar may also refer to:
Places
* Cheddar, Ontario, Canada
* Cheddar Yeo, a river which flows through Cheddar Gorge and t ...
,
Aftenposten
( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...
, etc.
The President since September 2018 was Jim Roberts (editor-in-chief, Cheddar.com, replacing Cory Haik, former publisher of MIC and Peter Bale (former Chief Executive Officer at the
Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to c ...
), after two years. The previous GEN Presidents were
Xavier Vidal-Folch, Deputy Director of ''El País'', and Ricardo Kirschbaum, the General Editor of ''Clarín''.
Bertrand Pecquerie was the CEO of the association until its closure in November 2019.
Closure
The Global Editors Network announced on 7 November 2019 that it would cease its activities due to a lack of sustainable finances. CEO Bertrand Pecquerie said In a statement that it had become increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between GEN’s three main funding sources and to further diversify them. The GEN board explored a number of options to continue GEN's work, but concluded they would not be enough to sustain the organization.
References
External links
Official websiteThe Data Journalism DenGEN Data Journalism Awards website{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106220646/https://www.datajournalismawards.org/ , date=2017-01-06
GEN Summit website
Journalism-related professional associations
Organizations based in Paris
Organizations established in 2011
Organizations disestablished in 2019