WAN-IFRA, Google News Initiative partner on Table Stakes Europe

WAN-IFRA is inviting local news publishers in Europe to participate in The Table Stakes Europe program.

The program for local and regional newspaper enterprises was created through a collaboration of WAN-IFRA and Table Stakes architect Doug Smith in partnership with the Google News Initiative.

The vision is to build in Europe on the model of Table Stakes plus performance-driven change methodologies and programs that have helped dozens of local news groups in the U.S. “transform themselves to dramatically improve their audience and digital capabilities and results,” according to the Google News Initiative.

Beginning in 2015, Douglas Smith co-founded and led an effort to help U.S. local news enterprises find audience-first high-quality journalistic pathways toward sustainability built on digital transformation. These efforts are popularly known as “table stakes.”

The objectives of the program, according to Google, are to help the selected participants transform their enterprises by closing shortfalls against the seven core table stakes, increasing consumer-based revenue, and building audience-first and digital capabilities.

The program will begin in October 2019 and run for 10 to 12 months.

The deadline for application is Sept. 1, 2019.

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