Journal of Media Business Studies

ISSN: 1652-2354 (Print) 2376-2977 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/romb20

Google news initiative innovation challenge in

Latin America: business models between path
dependence and power relations

Lucia Mesquita & Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos

To cite this article: Lucia Mesquita & Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos (2025) Google
news initiative innovation challenge in Latin America: business models between path
dependence and power relations, Journal of Media Business Studies, 22:2, 143-168, DOI:
10.1080/16522354.2024.2402630

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2024.2402630

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa

UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis
Group.

Published online: 11 Oct 2024.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 640

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Citing articles: 1 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=romb20
JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES
2025, VOL. 22, NO. 2, 143–168
https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.2024.2402630

Google news initiative innovation challenge in Latin America:

business models between path dependence and power
relations
Lucia Mesquitaa,b and Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos c,d,e

a
Fujo, Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society, Dublin City University, Ireland; bCentre for
Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies (CICANT), Lusófona University,
Portugal; cDepartment of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language, and Literature (MCCALL),
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; dFaculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands;
e
Digital Media and Society Observatory, Federal University of São Paulo, São José dos Campos, Brazil

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

In response to growing regulatory pressures, tech companies have Received 30 January 2022
partnered with media organizations to support news production Accepted 6 September 2024
through programs, grants, and financial aid for journalism. Notably, KEYWORDS
the Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge has invested News media; sustainability;
millions in Latin American news projects. This study explores the tech platforms; projects;
characteristics of these projects and their impact on the business dependence; revenue
models of Latin American media organizations. By examining project stream; journalism
descriptions, a typology clarifies the connection between these initia­
tives and their effects on publishers’ business models. This analysis is
complemented by 20 semi-structured interviews conducted from
January 2020 to March 2023 with key regional informants. Results
show three types of projects emerging through the GNI Innovation
Challenge: audience-building, revenue generation, and technological
innovation. It becomes evident that these media organizations are
trapped in a dependent cycle, significantly contributing to their
challenges in establishing sustainable business models.
Furthermore, the study suggests that media organizations perceive
these grants as a temporary financial resource, enabling them to hire
additional staff and implement technological advancements within
their newsrooms for a short time. Meanwhile, Google exerts its influ­
ence across the media industry by promoting cutting-edge technol­
ogies, which increases media dependence on its infrastructure.
Ultimately, this research highlights the complex dynamics between
big tech firms and the news industry, raising questions about the
journalism sustainability and the potential consequences of its path
dependence and capture by platforms.

Introduction
In an age of abundant content, the oft-repeated argument that “data is the new oil”
makes us forget that our attention comes first (Westermeier, 2020). Content is only

CONTACT Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos [email protected]; [email protected] Department of

Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature (MCCALL), Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any med­
ium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article
has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
144 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

as valuable as the meaning it holds. The introduction of technological companies,

also defined as digital intermediaries (Nielsen & Anne Ganter, 2018) or Big Techs
(Hendrikse et al., 2022), to the media ecosystem has an ever-lasting effect on all
levels of the news value chain. It has brought challenges and revealed weaknesses in
media companies’ business models.
Scholars have suggested that the logic of “unbundling” and “rebundling” news con­
tent, advertising, and audiences employed by these platforms is difficult to trace, leading
producers to frustratingly reshape strategies to navigate the complex mechanisms by
which these platforms operate (van Dijck et al., 2018).
Conversely, the attention economy has given opportunities to media outlets to
reach broader audiences and engage with them in better ways (Karlsson, 2011). That
is why platforms delve into complex solutions to capture audience attention, includ­
ing utilising news stories (Mellado & Alfaro, 2020). Thus, our attention has become
a virtual currency that big tech platforms pay top dollar to capture (Myllylahti, 2020;
Nuttall, 2020).
Much of the scholarly discussion concerns the global spread and the increasing threat
imposed by the big five tech platforms, the FAANGs – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix,
and Google (Flew, 2019). Particularly, Facebook and Google “see themselves as drivers of
traffic to news sites” (Burrell, 2020). They are often called a duopoly because they have
received more than half of all spending on digital advertising (Rashidian, 2020). These
companies have impacted the news industry by diverting consistent advertising revenue
streams away from media organisations, sparking concerns about notable market failure
and jeopardising the future of the journalism sector (Rashidian et al., 2018).
Recently, big tech companies have invested in cultivating a “healthier” relationship
with news media (Rashidian et al., 2019). Studies suggest two key reasons underlie the
change in the relationship between platforms and the news industry. First, Silicon
Valley companies recognise that they are threatening the producers of content
necessary for their business models. Second, policymakers worldwide advocate for
sector-specific regulations to exert greater control over digital giants. This move
responds to the growing recognition that these companies wield unbalanced power,
which could lead to unfavourable conditions for weaker partners, such as the media
industry (Bell, 2019, 2021; B. Smith, 2020). For example, the Australian Competition
Authority demanded that Facebook and Google pay media outlets for using their
content (Burrell, 2020). Similarly, Canada introduced legislation to compel platforms
to compensate for news content. In response, big tech firms have frequently pro­
moted their investments in journalism (Papaevangelou, 2024). Google’s News
Showcase is a project wherein the search giant pays to curate news content from
selected publishers, giving the public access to paywalled material (Porter, 2021).
Likewise, the Meta Journalism Project (publicly announced in 2018 as the Facebook
Journalism Project) aimed at supporting local media organisations and included
direct funding (Nechushtai, 2018).
Particularly, Google has been promoting the Google News Initiative (GNI), a program
that has “collaborated closely with the news industry and provided billions of dollars to
support the creation of quality journalism in the digital age” (Google News Initiative, n.
d.). The GNI features a scheme called the Innovation Challenge that empowers media
organisations to demonstrate new approaches to digital journalism through
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 145

technological innovations. The GNI Innovation Challenge follows the Digital News
Innovation (DNI) Fund, which operated from 2015 to 2018, funding 662 projects in
Europe.
The GNI Innovation Challenge initially offered grants in three regions: Asia-Pacific,
Latin America, and North America. A year later, Google introduced a fourth eligible
region: the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. In 2022, Europe joined as another region
eligible for this program. Google has made information about the grantees and their
projects accessible on the GNI website. However, there has been a lack of transparency in
providing specific details, including the exact amounts of financial support provided to
grantees (Papaevangelou, 2024).
Latin America stands out as an especially intriguing region due to its notable
embrace of advanced digital technologies, coupled with extensive use of data and
smart solutions. These factors have brought about significant disruptions in con­
sumption, business, and production models, facilitating the emergence of new forms
of value creation in recent years (Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean [ECLAC], 2022).
Google allocated four million euros to support 30 grantees in the inaugural year
of the GNI Innovation Challenge in Latin America (Pires, 2019). This is particularly
noteworthy, considering that journalism in this region has seen increasing financial
backing from traditional philanthropic foundations and private companies. This
support has been instrumental in bridging financial gaps and promoting media
development, particularly in the face of diminishing revenue from traditional mod­
els (Creech & Parks, 2021; Lugo-Ocando, 2020; de-Lima-Santos & Mesquita, 2021;
Requejo-Alemán & Lugo-Ocando, 2014). However, this approach has faced criticism
for potentially fostering a culture of dependency on donors (Kaye & Quinn, 2010).
While the GNI Innovation Challenge, as described by Google, aims to empower
publishers across the globe to forge new avenues for sustainability and create valuable
tools that foster a diverse news ecosystem (Pires, 2019), the evolving digital landscape
necessitates a different business logic, one that publishers were not accustomed to and are
still grappling to adapt to. Previous studies have pointed out that a solid revenue
diversification strategy might be a better path to sustainability for these organisations
(de-Lima-Santos et al., 2022).
To better understand how the GNI Innovation Challenge fund has driven technolo­
gical innovation in news media since 2018, this study poses three questions:

RQ1. What are the primary characteristics of projects that have received awards from
the GNI Innovation Challenge in Latin America?

RQ2. What characterises the relationships between the platforms and the news media
organisations through the GNI Innovation Challenge?

RQ3. How do the resources obtained from Google impact the business models of the
organisations that have received these awards?

Drawing on a literature review of platformization, path dependence, and media

capture, this exploratory study analyzes the influences of the GNI Innovation
146 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

Challenge on the business models of news media organisations. Given this context,
we recognised the necessity of constructing a typology that can identify similarities
among the projects supported by grantees and how they impact the business
strategies of media outlets. To this end, we adopted a threefold approach. First,
we identified each project’s main characteristics to fully develop the typology that
provides an understanding of the connections between the projects that received
support from the two editions of the GNI Innovation Challenge in Latin America
and their influence on these publishers’ business models. Second, twenty (n = 20)
semi-structured interviews were conducted between January 2020 and March 2023
with key informants at Latin American media outlets to shed light on the path
dependence and lock-in mechanisms created by these companies. Lastly, these data
were triangulated to identify findings that reflect the full scope of the relationship
between news media and big tech.
This study contributes to the growing body of evidence suggesting that the unbalanced
relationship between technology platforms and news publishers is not optimistic, con­
trary to previous reports in the literature (Rashidian et al., 2019). Additionally, this
comprehensive typology enables publishers to understand, target more effectively, and
predict forthcoming trends in the type of projects that interest Google. Although our data
derives from the GNI Innovation Challenge, our analysis indicates the broader influence
of these grants from big tech companies. In conclusion, this research advocates for
a more transparent and sustainable partnering model in which financial and technolo­
gical resources from big tech companies support media organisations beyond short-term
products and initiatives.

Theoretical framework
Platformization and power dependency
The era of platformization is marked by advanced technological capabilities that
facilitate social interactions, giving rise to new opportunities and inequalities (Silva
et al., 2020). Platforms serve as infrastructure, enabling external production
resources while simultaneously shaping labour, creativity, and democratic practices
(Poell et al., 2022).
The rise of platforms as dominant economic and infrastructural models has expanded
the reach of social media platforms throughout the online landscape, assuming the role of
intermediaries that govern news consumption and production processes (Bilton, 2019;
Helmond, 2015). Consequently, big tech companies behind these platforms have estab­
lished and maintained their dominance in the information ecosystem by leveraging
network effects (Shapiro & Varian, 1999) to offer captivating content while driving
expansion (Helmond, 2015; Poell et al., 2021).
However, this platformization has given rise to various societal and economic chal­
lenges, encompassing concerns about surveillance, the emergence of the gig economy,
and the erosion of media trust. These developments have led to unforeseen power
imbalances between society and big tech companies. One illustrative example is
Facebook’s preference for user-generated content over news sources, diminishing the
role of publishers in audiences’ information consumption (Lee, 2019; Rashidian et al.,
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 147

2018). Similarly, these tech firms have established business models centred around
gathering and selling user data to advertisers (Holt & Perren, 2019; Myllylahti, 2020).
This underscores the unbalanced relationship between the public and big tech compa­
nies, where platforms capitalise on attention and data, effectively turning individuals into
profitable metrics (Miotto & Payne, 2019; Myllylahti, 2020).
This transformation has occurred in tandem with the decline of traditional advertising
revenue for media organisations, eroding their business models (Boczkowski, 2005). The
significant impact on the traditional media business model, with a substantial share of
advertising revenue diverted, happens at a time when subscription models have proven
largely unviable due to competition from free content alternatives in the digital environ­
ment (Myllylahti, 2014). It reflects a shift in power from news media, once the gate­
keepers, to platform companies that have disrupted the established news hierarchy
(Cornia et al., 2020). This compels media outlets to revamp their business models in
response to the digital economy (Ekström & Westlund, 2019; Villi & Robert, 2019).
The dynamics between news media and big tech have experienced recent changes.
Under mounting regulatory pressure, these tech companies are channelling investments
into journalistic endeavours, exemplified by the Facebook Journalism Project and Google
News Initiative (Fanta & Dachwitz, 2020; Jurno & D’Andréa, 2020). While perceived as
investments by these organisations, these actions amplify their influence in the journal­
istic arena, and the full extent of their impacts is still being comprehended (Rashidian,
2020).

The business model of journalism, its path dependence, and lock-in mechanisms
Journalism distinguishes itself from other forms of information because journalists
function as truth-tellers. Therefore, the condition that the media market used to compete
for the public’s attention was through its credibility and trust (Karlsson, 2011). The
traditional journalistic business model has strongly relied on attracting revenue through
advertising models, ensuring independence from governments and politicians but creat­
ing market dependence (Nielsen, 2016).
In the age of the attention economy, media outlets are having a hard time maintaining
the form and tone of the editorial content to catch the users’ attention and have to
compete with partisan and unreliable news (Napoli, 2019). In this environment, rebuild­
ing trust and ensuring quality in journalism are essential features to staying relevant in
the digital age. However, capabilities are needed to bundle, manage, and exploit resources
to provide added value to audiences and create advantages over competitors. Conversely,
the cultural norms taken for granted in newsrooms are historically contingent on the
arrangements of media organisations. For example, in the context of disarray in the
legacy newspaper industry, the regional news media in the United Kingdom are com­
pensating for the plummeting traditional revenue streams without actually challenging
the inner logic. As a result, these organisations are yet dependent on conventional forms
of revenue (Cestino & Matthews, 2016). This suggests that business models of media
organisations have fallen within the same deterministic path. Also described as path
dependence, this happens when past actions persist due to a resistance to change,
narrowing “the scope of decision-making and action over time” (Wilczek, 2016, p. 139).
148 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

Path dependence is the dependence of economic outcomes on previous out­

comes rather than simply on current conditions, limiting the opportunities to
develop a strategy that maximises strengths and mitigates weaknesses of business
models. Several factors are connected to path dependence, including ease of use,
cost, and financial implications, inability to commit to a change. This process can
also be identified as a mistaken strategy in the deployment of economies once
people, companies, or entities should choose their path of development (Barnes
et al., 2004). To unlock new possibilities, it is necessary to allow changes.
However, the lack of robust and committed agents (which would propose optimal,
responsible, and efficient development models) still depends on the path deter­
mined by a few actors that established the initial conditions (Liebowitz &
Margolis, 1995).
Thus, path dependence builds upon the lock-in economy. The lock-in mechanism is
often described as a process in which organisations and individuals are virtually dead­
locked in a vicious cycle, such as those related to technological and infrastructure
dependence (Barnes et al., 2004). By adopting this mechanism, technology companies
use this process to obstruct users from adopting new generations of technology, directly
affecting companies’ business decisions and development paths. Furthermore, these lock-
in mechanisms are also associated with institutional pressures from top-down cultures.
In other words, institutions’ leaders influence the behaviour of actors, creating a societal
dependence that is not always related to the optimal development of the actors and the
society (Barnes et al., 2004).
Expanding from this, path dependence and lock-in mechanisms can help to under­
stand the news industry’s behaviour towards big tech companies. For example, platforms
such as YouTube can use this network effect to further increase their platform depen­
dency among cultural creators (Poell et al., 2021). As media outlets are locked-in in the
big tech ecosystem, this path dependence makes it hard for these organisations to get out.
On the one hand, these big tech companies offer more opportunities to search and reach
people. On the other, media outlets can become too dependent on these platforms, which
could lead them to lose control over their “editorial identity, access to user data, and
central parts of [their] revenue model” (Nielsen & Anne Ganter, 2018, 1602).
Latin American media organisations are combining different revenue sources to
overcome this situation. In their pursuit of sustainability, media outlets in Latin
America have explored 15 distinct revenue streams to navigate away from lock-in
dynamics and facilitate sustainable shifts in their business strategies (de-Lima-Santos &
Mesquita, 2021). For example, philanthropic money from foundations can be considered
a strategic resource for smaller investigative Latin American media organisations
(Requejo-Alemán & Lugo-Ocando, 2014). Although philanthropic foundations give
some hope and relief for journalism (Benson, 2018), mainly in less developed countries,
these institutions received much criticism because of the degree of independence given to
media outlets, the power to determine which organisations receive support and for how
long, as well as the fact that this is a short-term solution (Konieczna, 2020; Scott et al.,
2019; Wright et al., 2019). If media outlets stay too long in this process, they run the risk
of getting locked in this strategy for all eternity, creating another path dependency that
influences their sustainability in the long run (Sirkkunen & Cook, 2012). The lack of
a potent agent to correct the course worsens this situation.
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 149

Big tech platforms, especially Google, provide emerging technological solutions and
grants (such as Jigsaw and GNI Innovation Challenge, respectively) to disrupt innovation
in the news industry (de-Lima-Santos & Ceron, 2021). These grants from big tech
companies were also pointed out to be an essential revenue source for Latin American
organisations (de-Lima-Santos & Mesquita, 2021). In the case of GNI, journalists and
media organisations are further impacted in this system by lock-in mechanisms both as
creators and end-users, leading to increased path dependence and endogenous growth
difference (Papaevangelou, 2024). Consequently, newsrooms became highly dependent
on big tech companies’ financial aid and technological infrastructures (Simon, 2022).

Leveling the playing field for news media or a media capture?

The rise of tech platforms and their highly lucrative business models has prompted
governments to take more aggressive stances against them, such as Australia’s News
Media Bargaining Code and Canada’s Online News Act. Policymakers contend that these
tech giants should provide financial support to media organisations to rectify market
failures within the information ecosystem stemming from their dominant positions
(Bossio et al., 2022; Rashidian, 2020). In response to these pressures, Google and
Facebook, for instance, are seeking novel relationships with news media, enhancing
their influence in various aspects of these organisations’ business models, from distribu­
tion to production and finance (Nielsen & Anne Ganter, 2018).
Over the past decade, these tech giants have provided substantial grants to encourage
innovative media products driven by technology, from training to little financial support
(Simon, 2022). Despite concerns about the power dynamic between tech companies and
publishers, media organisations, especially those conducting vital investigations, have
embraced the opportunities these platforms offer as a means of ensuring their survival.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, these tech platforms initiated emergency relief funding
to assist financially distressed newsrooms (Papaevangelou, 2024). This financial support
has reshaped the dynamic between news media organisations and tech corporations, with
the platforms’ contributions becoming increasingly central to their business strategies
(de-Lima-Santos et al., 2022; de-Lima-Santos & Mesquita, 2021). Consequently, some
argue that big tech companies have shifted from being journalism partners to patrons,
exerting significant influence on the media landscape (Fanta & Dachwitz, 2020).
By funding journalism initiatives, Google and Facebook brought to the debate over the
ethics of accepting platform money to produce news products. Researchers highlight the
concept of “media capture” as an issue that happens when news media organisations rely
heavily on other powerful entities, such as platforms, which may weaken their ability to
hold those in power accountable (Schiffrin, 2021). Media capture can occur through
various mechanisms, including ownership of media outlets by powerful entities, regula­
tory capture, and indirect influence through advertising and other forms of economic
pressure.
The degree to which media is controlled or influenced depends on two factors: the
desire of governments and special interest groups to exert control over the media, and the
readiness of media outlets themselves to alter their content in response to such external
pressures (Enikolopov & Petrova, 2015). While media capture is often seen as a threat to
editorial independence, it can also jeopardise media organisations’ autonomy over their
150 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

infrastructure and their ability to innovate (Nechushtai, 2018). Therefore, media capture
should be considered a risk for the news industry’s business models to adapt and evolve
in the digital era.
In absolute figures, the money coming from big tech companies overcame philan­
thropic funding in the last decade. According to a recent study, the Knight Foundation
gave an average of US$118 million in grants over the previous decade. Similarly, the
Craig Newmark Philanthropies has provided US$170 million to journalism since 2016,
and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation around US$250 million to journalism until
2020. For comparison, Facebook and Google’s total financial subsidies to the news
industry between 2018 and 2020 reached US$1.8 billion (Rashidian, 2020).
As explained as part of this media capture concept, platforms have “the power to
determine which newsrooms receive support, how, and for how long” (Rashidian, 2020).
In general, grants offered by Facebook and Google intend to bring more technological
innovations to newsrooms without a clear strategy for making these resources available
after the end of the funding. These resources can have an ever-long effect on all levels of
the journalistic value chain. Therefore, big tech companies’ resources can have an ever-
long impact on all levels of journalistic production. For example, Large European media
organisations understood that by working with digital intermediaries, they could benefit
in the short term but not in the long one (Nielsen & Anne Ganter, 2018).
These platform funding might lead producers to a frustrating reshaping of strategies to
navigate the complex mechanism in which these big tech companies operate, leading to
a locked-in path dependence process and becoming dependent on powerful entities that
can lead to a media capture process (Cestino & Matthews, 2016; Schiffrin, 2021). As far as
we know, no previous research has investigated these effects on the news industry. To fill
this gap, this study examines the influence of the grants provided by the GNI in Latin
America on the business models of media outlets and how these innovative projects serve
as revenue streams for these organisations. Next, we describe the methods used to
assess it.

Methodology
To understand the connections between the projects that received support from the two
editions of the GNI Innovation Challenge in Latin America and their influence on these
publishers’ business models, this study relies on a multi-method approach in a three-step
process.
Initially, we performed a content analysis of the descriptions of the GNI projects that
received awards in the first two editions (2019 and 2021) in Latin America. This
information was accessible on Google’s website. However, it is worth noting that this
data has since been removed by the company. Based on the data available at the time, we
developed our typology. It was built on a systematic classification of the types of awarded
projects, following their common characteristics and goals.
The typology conceptually separates a given set of items multidimensionally, allowing
the identification of commonalities that accentuate certain features (K. B. Smith, 2002).
For this reason, an inductive perspective was applied. In this approach, themes arise from
the data and are strongly connected to the data, not with the researcher’s perspective on
the topic (Boyatzis, 1998). The themes were based on an ideal type, a mental construction
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 151

not deliberately found in empirical reality (Weber, 2017). However, this coding process is
also naturally inherent to pre-existing theory or framework, which makes it not a “pure”
induction. In other words, the coding process always echoes the researchers’ philosophi­
cal standpoint and values (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Thus, these findings were essential to
understand the type of projects being undertaken and shed light on Google’s choices
regarding allocating funds. To visualise some of this data, we relied on RAW Graphs, an
open-source data visualisation framework, to make a visual representation of complex
data (Mauri et al., 2017).
To complement this analysis, we conducted a second step comprising in-depth, semi-
structured interviews with twenty (n = 20) founders or senior management members in
these granted-awarded media organisations. These interviews were conducted between
January 2020 and March 2023 and were conducted remotely in Portuguese and Spanish.
On average, each interview lasted approximately 45 minutes. We used a snowball sam­
pling approach to identify and contact individuals who had received grants in the two
editions of the GNI. It is important to note that, due to its nature, the snowball method is
not intended to provide a statistically representative sample. Instead, it serves the purpose
of gathering valuable data for exploratory research within a specific and relatively small
population that may be challenging to identify or locate, as was the case in our study.
Based on the theoretical framework and description of the projects, topics covered in
these interviews include the use of funds, the challenges related to the deployment of
these projects, how significant these undertakings are for the business models of these
organisations, the procedures and criteria for Google’s intervention during the execution,
and the future of these projects. Table 1 describes the interviewees’ details.
To analyse the content of the interviews, we transcribed them verbatim to ensure the
purity of the data. These transcriptions were then coded and categorised. Our coding
process utilised thematic analysis, a method commonly employed in qualitative research
to identify, analyse, organise, describe, and report themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Like
the typology process, an inductive approach was used to generate the themes. In our case,

Table 1. Interviewees and their organisations.

Code Organizations Type Country
R1 Grupo Octubre Legacy Argentina
R2 La Nación Legacy Argentina
R3 Red/Acción Digital Native Argentina
R4 El País Legacy Bolívia
R5 Alma Preta Digital Native Brazil
R6 Aos Fatos Digital Native Brazil
R7 AzMina Digital Native Brazil
R8 Congresso em Foco Digital Native Brazil
R9 Desenrola Digital Native Brazil
R10 Fiquem Sabendo Digital Native Brazil
R11 Jornal do Commercio (ConfereAI) Legacy Brazil
R12 JOTA Digital Native Brazil
R13 Marco Zero Digital Native Brazil
R14 Notícia Preta Digital Native Brazil
R15 O Eco Digital Native Brazil
R16 CLIP Digital Native Costa Rica
R17 La Voz de Guanacaste Digital Native Costa Rica
R18 GatoEncerrado Digital Native El Salvador
R19 Verificado MX Digital Native Mexico
R20 la diaria Legacy Uruguay
152 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

thematic analysis was not used to generate unanticipated insights but rather to system­
atically extract and understand the prominent themes within the data (Nowell et al.,
2017). While the typology process influenced our coding process, it did not dictate the
creation of themes for the interviews. Instead, we took an inductive approach to generate
these themes.
Finally, we triangulate the data collected in the previous two steps so that we conclude
with a more complete view of the problem proposed in this study. Three themes emerged
in our findings: audience building, new revenue stream, and technological innovation.
This empirical evidence was contextualised with the typology proposed and the theore­
tical frameworks used in this study. In the following section, our main findings will be
summarised.

Findings
A typology of projects characteristics funded by GNI Innovation Challenge
In Latin America, the GNI Innovation Challenge awarded funds for 51 projects, with 30
(58.82%) in 2019 and 21 (41.18%) in 2021. These projects were concentrated in 11 out of
33 Latin American countries, primarily in South America, with Brazil (20) and Argentina
(11) leading (see Figure 1). Notably, no single organisation was granted funds in both
editions of the challenge. However, organisations engaged in collaborative projects had
the opportunity to secure grants in multiple years. Some interviewees mentioned receiv­
ing individual grants and participating in collaborative GNI projects in different years.
The lack of clear explanations about the selection process underscores Google’s sub­
stantial influence in determining which organisations receive support, the form of that
support, and its duration (Rashidian, 2020).
The GNI projects can be categorised into three types: audience building, revenue
stream, and technological innovation. In both editions, technological innovation projects
received the most grants, followed by those focused on generating new revenues, while
audience building projects received less attention (see Figure 2).
While technological innovation projects were most common, there was a higher
diversity of countries awarded grants for new revenue sources (8 countries). In contrast,
Brazilian, Colombian, and Peruvian media organisations primarily concentrated on
audience building projects. Brazil was the only country where all three types of projects
were found, illustrating a broader spectrum of initiatives. Figure 3 visually represents
how these project types were distributed across different Latin American countries.

Audience building
A common problem described in these projects was the need to reach wider audiences,
which is impossible due to limited resources. For example, ten Brazilian media outlets,
including ((o))eco, Agência Lupa, Agência Pública, Amazônia Real, Congresso em Foco,
Énois, Marco Zero, Ponte Jornalismo, Projeto #Colabora, and Repórter Brasil, came
together to propose “Reload.” Led by Agência Pública, this project was one of the selected
projects for the Google News Initiative’s Innovation Challenge in 2019 and officially
launched on 1 September 2020. It aimed to engage younger audiences by creating
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 153

Figure 1. Countries with GNI grantees.

a shared video newsroom. This collaborative effort was conceived during the Festival 3i,
an initiative by 13 digital native media outlets, with the support of Facebook and Google.
The festival brought media organisations and practitioners together to discuss the future
of digital journalism. According to R8, R13, and R15, they saw the need to produce
content that dialogues with young audiences during this event. Tech giants like Google
and Meta have provided significant support to various festivals and the organisations
responsible for organising them through their journalism programs. For example,
Festival 3i has transitioned from being managed by independent media to being overseen
by Ajor, a representative body formed by these independent media organisations to act in
their collective interests (Padania, 2023). Many of these media outlets have representa­
tives on Ajor’s board and the collective body has secured funds from Google and
Meta (R13).
Reload repurposed existing content into audiovisual formats that appealed to
young audiences. According to R15 from O Eco, the team consists of “professionals
specialized in marketing, design, social media, and video production,” who are
154 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

Figure 2. Types of projects per year.

responsible for “translating” the news stories into social news (Hurcombe et al., 2021),
which are more digestible and entertaining pieces for younger audiences. “To talk to
a young audience, it is indispensable that our professionals come from their world”
(R7). The result was the portal Reload.news, which redirected users to various plat­
forms such as TikTok (about 31K, as of March 2023), Instagram (about 19.3K users),
and YouTube channel (more than 9.4K users, as of March 2023). This approach
enhanced their value proposition and allowed them to target new audience segments
effectively. However, financial support would be required to sustain this in the long
run, as keeping content adapted to different platforms demanded ongoing resources.
This reflects the project’s longevity, which faced discontinuity after a few years,
despite having a significant audience on these platforms.
Other projects also focused on building niche audiences. Marco Zero (Brazil), which
was also part of Reload, collaborated with the Catholic University of Pernambuco
(Unicap) and other local news outlets to produce accessible content for the visually
impaired under the project Lume. To reach this audience, the project was built on three
axes: research to understand the consumption of journalistic content by blind people, an
automated tool for detecting accessibility problems on news portals, and an app that
offers curated and accessible news content for this audience. Similarly, Vanguardia Kids
in Colombia created a multi-platform news project for children. These initiatives dis­
rupted traditional media norms and sought to include underserved communities in the
information ecosystem.
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 155

Figure 3. Types of projects per country.

According to some interviewees, these GNI projects expanded their reach to new
publics and provided opportunities for diversifying their revenue streams by offering
content that appeals to these audiences and is not typically covered by mainstream media.
In turn, some respondents noted that these initiatives served as a means to generate
supplementary income through philanthropic support and public contributions. This
element plays a vital role in improving the value proposition of these media outlets,
which are in an unstoppable search for new audience segments as a “sustainable strategy”
(Sirkkunen & Cook, 2012).

A new source of revenue

Historically, media organisations in Latin America have faced difficulties in establishing
a sustainable revenue stream, ranging from high reliance on philanthropic money to
failure in making the public pay for news (de-Lima-Santos & Mesquita, 2021; Mesquita &
Fernandes, 2021; Requejo-Alemán & Lugo-Ocando, 2014). According to R10 and R19,
156 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

GNI is a laboratory for media outlets seeking to test sustainable business models
(Sirkkunen & Cook, 2012). These organisations could test new technological-driven
business models sponsored by Google. Fiquem Sabendo (R10) and Verificado MX
(R19) created tools that they believed would assist them in developing new revenue
streams. “From an innovation perspective in the content development model, we were
undoubtedly successful. However, when considering the business model, it’s clear that we
would need more than just an initial economic injection to develop a profitable business
model based on the tool that was created” (R19).
Similarly, Congresso em Foco, a Brazilian for-profit news outlet specialising in
political coverage at the congressional level, recognised the opportunity to diversify its
business strategy. Founded in 2004, it was the first website in Brazil dedicated to covering
the National Congress. Despite its specific focus, it struggled to secure sufficient funding
from its audience alone. To tackle this challenge, the organisation launched the “Radar do
Congresso,” an innovative technological tool designed to provide exclusive and inte­
grated real-time data and content related to Brazilian politics. This endeavour sought to
establish the groundwork for a sustainable and feasible business strategy by providing an
application programming interface (API) that enabled users to access and integrate its
data with other systems. “Google’s funding played a pivotal role in empowering
Congresso em Foco to engage in data journalism on a significant scale” (R8). As
a result, “our platform became the main source of information about politicians’ activ­
ities in our country” (R8).
From a different standpoint, Red/Acción (Argentina) proposed a tool to improve its
membership model, which is the primary revenue source for the newsroom. The
Argentinian news outlet developed a project to fuel paid members’ conversion and
retention based on readers’ behaviour. The core idea is to utilise audience data to foster
engagement and transform the public into members. “We developed a Smart
Membership Program, which focused on tracking ‘in a good way’ the audience behaviour
to determine the pattern of participation, engagement, and consumption of content. In
addition, some demographic data, such as the age of these individuals. Our goal was to
discern any discernible criteria that would allow more people to enter this funnel” (R3).
This project underscores the impact of the platformization era and the attention econ­
omy on the media industry, highlighting the significance of user data in delivering
improved services and software products (Myllylahti, 2020). Red/Acción, lacking in-
house technologists, partnered with a third-party company to create this tool. Similar
experiences were reported by R1, R7, and R10, who also collaborated with third-party
firms to develop their solutions.
In this context, El País, a Bolivian legacy media organisation, proposed a mobile
application to enhance accessibility to its content and adapt to the changing media
landscape. The aim was to establish a business model more suited to the digital era by
monetising subscription plans. However, El País expressed uncertainty about the pro­
ject’s long-term development, feeling that while they had received support to create
a solid product, it was not ready for release. R4 recognised that the actual project
requirements extended “beyond the one-year grant period” and would “necessitate
ongoing development.”
The Association Desenrola also introduced a project to create new revenue streams for
media partners in this GNI initiative. This association, dedicated to covering peripheral
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 157

neighbourhoods in São Paulo, collaborates with independent communication collectives

to establish a media platform for these communities. The project proposed using digital
totems to distribute journalistic content in high-traffic areas of these peripheral commu­
nities, such as bakeries and grocery stores. The project also aims to stimulate the local
economy in areas affected by economic inequality and limited access to digital technol­
ogies. According to R9, “this is a form of combat the desert of news, which everyone
should have access to,” but this is not a reality even in a relatively well-economically
developed city such as São Paulo due to persistent structural problems (Paiva, 2018).
The pandemic created some setbacks for the project, as the “necessary hardware was
delayed due to issues in China” (R9). However, the team found a solution and developed
the totem technology within these peripheral communities, showcasing “our people’s
united capabilities” (R9).
One of Desenrola’s partners, Alma Preta (R5), an independent news outlet specialising
in race-related issues, viewed the project as a chance to enhance its audience under­
standing. With Google’s support, R5 conducted a survey to gain deeper insights into their
audience and develop strategies for distributing content on social media. “The ultimate
goal was to explore how our audience could be engaged in funding initiatives,”
explained R5.
One significant desired outcome of the projects supported by the GNI is the creation
of products, services, and platforms that can generate additional revenue streams and
sustain the projects themselves. However, our respondents emphasised that this endea­
vour comes with its share of challenges, many of which are difficult to mitigate within the
media industry.

Emerging technologies deployment

The discussion of innovation in journalism is crucial for shaping the industry’s current
and future direction. The news industry has traditionally been slow to adapt to techno­
logical innovations, primarily due to economic challenges faced by media organisations
in past decades (Paulussen, 2016). Moreover, the culture of innovation in journalism
often leans towards a reactive approach, characterised by imitating and adapting what
others are doing (Boczkowski, 2004), leading to a “yes, but syndrome” where new ideas
are met with reluctance (Ryfe, 2012).
However, emerging technological innovations promise to transform newsrooms and
open up new opportunities (de-Lima-Santos et al., 2022). Several media organisations
have embraced technologically innovative projects through the GNI Innovation
Challenge. For example, AzMina, a Brazilian small news outlet focused on gender issues,
initiated a project to track and rank bills related to gender issues in the Brazilian
Congress. This multi-phase project involved the development of an automated Twitter
bot to track bills, ranking parliamentarians based on their contributions to gender issues,
and creating a data-driven news product, such as a dashboard. This project aimed to
utilise emerging technologies, like automated bots, to innovate the news production
process and foster alternative ways of consuming information (e.g. dashboard and bot).
However, many organisations, including AzMina, faced challenges in executing
their projects due to a lack of in-house technology expertise. The organisation had
to outsource tasks and hire professionals, which significantly increased the costs
158 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

of the projects. R1, R10, R11, R17, R18, and R19 also faced the same issue due to
the lack of technologists in their teams. For example, La Voz de Guanacaste,
a local news outlet from Costa Rica, needed more than six months (half of the
grant period) to identify a possible partner to help them develop the pro­
ject (R17).
Other projects leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) to create innovative solutions. For
instance, JOTA (Brazil) has used this grant to leverage AI in its newsroom. The project
“CARF Previsível” aims to predict Brazil’s tax appeals court (Carf) decisions based on
machine learning models (see de-Lima-Santos & Ceron, 2022) that learned from pre­
vious “patterns and trends in the public power” (R12). As per the source, this technolo­
gical project succeeded as the machine learning model delivered satisfactory results.
JOTA could “predict the outcome of the pension reform in March, a full four months
before the vote” (R12).
In the same vein, ConfereAI (Brazil), a project designed inside Unicap and embraced
by the legacy newspaper Jornal do Commercio, proposed a system using AI to auto­
matically detect whether the information was true or false. The project enabled people to
send links or textual content (false news articles), which the platform could accurately
define whether the information imputed is true or false. According to R11, the test
showed that the platform had about 80% accuracy with links and 90% with false news
articles. With GNI funding, the team managed to put in the air Confere.AI, which won
several awards and was a finalist in the Sigma Award for data journalism products. This
was unexpected by the team, as they “are talking about local journalism, which is in an
awful situation” (R11). As per the source, the Jornal do Commercio passed through
a series of dismissals of highly qualified professionals because the newspaper could not
pay their salaries anymore. The organisation made clear to the team since the first
meeting that this project could not be produced without external funding. “They said:
‘We are going to submit the project to Google’s grant, and without it, we can’t make it
viable. We like the idea a lot, but outside [GNI], we wouldn’t be able to do it” (R11).
Aos Fatos, a fact-checking initiative in Brazil, introduced “Radar Aos Fatos,”
a dashboard that used automation to monitor the evolution of disinformation content
on social media. It aimed to provide real-time data on misinformation while potentially
generating revenue through reports. However, increasing technological development in
media organisations also brought additional costs, particularly in countries with weaker
local currencies. This made organisations rely on co-funding and seek external financing
to cover unexpected expenses. “To innovate in journalism, essential requirements
include software, equipment, platforms, and various other resources that often come
from foreign sources. The current high valuation of the U.S. dollar has made these
necessities significantly more expensive for us. Despite the funding provided, we have
had to grapple with rising costs, whether it’s for server maintenance or API access” (R6).
On a different note, some respondents also mentioned that, due to economic crises led
by the COVID-19 pandemic, the dollar gave them more money than expected from these
grants. However, they recalled that the GNI’s contributions do not cover the entire costs
of the project, requiring organisations to co-fund these projects. With this unprecedented
dollar’s appreciation against the local currencies, the specified proportion of the eligible
costs of these organisations has also increased, making media organisations pay for more
expenses than they have projected.
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 159

Organisations have absorbed these “unexpected” costs in different ways. For example,
CLIP (Costa Rica) has resorted to other donations and bidding for discounts when
paying for the resources needed for the project developed through the GNI Innovation
Challenge program. The project comprises collecting and exploring public procurement
data through a platform called “Nina,” which can connect to any public application
programming interface (API). The platform is robust and incredibly intelligent due to the
connection with various APIs, including Open Corporate, Aleph from the OCCRP, and
Open Sanctions. Thus, anyone can search for information on individuals and companies
with sanctions and blacklisted in different databases. The initial funding received from
Google was essential to hire programmers and pay the initial resources (e.g. servers), but
the Costa Rican organisation had to seek additional funding in the following years. R18
mentioned that the platform comes with a significant cost, as the organisation pays
a premium to access certain proprietary databases. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that
they received a discount due to their non-profit status. Additionally, R8 believes that
there is potential to expand the tool by incorporating personalised alerts, which could
serve as a source of revenue to offset costs and potentially generate additional income for
the organisation. Building upon the initial infrastructure developed for Nina, R18
supported La Voz de Guanacaste in the execution of its proposed project (R17).
Furthermore, some organisations explored opportunities to sell their innovative
products or services to other media outlets. GatoEncerrado had a strategic plan to offer
licences for its bot, which other media organisations in the region would use to distribute
verified information. “It could serve as a revenue stream for us” (R18). However, R18
recognises that establishing partnerships with independent media outlets across the
region is a challenging task that will take time to fully materialise. Inspired by Vox’s
award-winning advertising platform Concert and its community platform Coral (which
also serves as a Content Management System – CMS), la diaria proposed the develop­
ment of technological tools designed to rebuild connections with the public and reintro­
duce journalism’s presence in the local community. R20 viewed this grant as an
opportunity to create a CMS that could be adopted by other media outlets, potentially
serving as a revenue source. Vox Media has recently announced its transition to
WordPress VIP, underscoring the organisation’s desire for its creative and development
teams to focus on experiences instead of platforms, continuing to create industry-leading
content for their audiences.
On a related note, many participants in the projects voiced concerns that the necessary
infrastructure for these initiatives was controlled by tech giants like Google, Amazon, and
Microsoft (Simon, 2022). R1 highlighted that this was a significant constraint to devel­
oping Grupo Octubre’s Visión Latina project. The group, a media conglomerate com­
posed of magazines, radios, and televisions, developed an AI-driven platform that
organises photos and videos to easily search them. The organisation aims to monetise
the platform by selling it to third parties. Using computer vision and machine learning
algorithms, the tools require a lot of computer power and training datasets, all in big tech
companies’ hands. R1 acknowledges that the project was expensive and “it was possible to
do because it is a large media group if it was a small news outlet, it could not be done, I do
not think so. In this sense, it would definitely have to look for external financing” (R1).
R1 believes that the Visión Latina has characteristics that make it eligible for external
funding “due to its nature of research project, inclusiveness approach to AI, and solutions
160 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

more representative” (R1). The project aims to be used by any professional; that is, it does
not require coding skills. Furthermore, it is built to learn with user data, allowing it to
have a better cultural understanding than AI solutions developed by the US or European
companies. These characteristics attracted IBM’s attention., which decided to collaborate
with Grupo Octubre to provide the initial dataset to train the model and host the
application in its servers (at a lower rate).
In summary, this infrastructure capture by tech companies increases costs and hinders
smaller media outlets from implementing similar initiatives. While the GNI Innovation
Challenge has spurred innovation in newsrooms, it has also highlighted the financial and
technological challenges involved in implementing these projects, especially for smaller
media organisations. These projects demonstrate the potential of technology and auto­
mation to reshape journalism, as well as they underscore the need for external support
and collaborations to overcome financial and technical barriers.

Discussion
Our study outlines three types of projects awarded in the GNI Innovation Challenge calls
for Latin America: audience building, new revenue streams, and emerging technological
innovation (RQ1). The suggested typology clarifies the definitional aspects concerning
Google’s interest in these projects. In line with this, our study indicates how these three
project types can lead to a locked-in path dependence process, making these organisa­
tions dependent on these powerful entities, resulting in a media capture process.
First, some projects aim to build wider audiences or target specific groups often
forgotten by traditional media. These are particularly important to expand the news
coverage and give voice to silenced people (Dencik et al., 2019; Levy, 2018). By fostering
projects that use technology to better understand and connect with Latin American
publishers’ audiences, Google pushes specific agendas instead of others (Nechushtai,
2018; Schiffrin, 2021). For example, Reload was conceived during the Festival 3i, an event
with significant support from Google and Meta. With the increasing numbers of indigen­
ous, Black, favela, and other “peripheral” media outlets within Ajor, their voices are also
growing, resulting in collaborative projects like Reload and Lume. While this evolution to
better represent the interests and perspectives of these diverse media outlets occurred
because of Festival 3i, it also underscores the dependence of these organisations on funding
from tech companies to develop such community-building initiatives (Padania, 2023).
Second, these organisations rely on the money from Google as a new revenue stream
for their business instead of building a long-term strategy (Rashidian et al., 2018; de-
Lima-Santos & Mesquita, 2021). By providing funds to these organisations, tech plat­
forms claim to “empower” media organisations towards sustainability (Rashidian, 2020).
However, these projects are funded for a cycle, which means this money has an ending
date, making these outlets unsure about continuing these projects (de-Lima-Santos &
Mesquita, 2021). Most of them focused on technological innovations that require sus­
tained investments of human and financial resources in the long run. Even with more
regulations being pushed in several countries to put more responsibility towards tech
platforms, these grants are not a solution to journalism (Bell, 2021; B. Smith, 2020).
Lastly, to overcome the slow adaptation to technological innovations in the last decades
(Paulussen, 2016), media organisations found a way to bring more technologies to their
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 161

news value chain using Google’s funds. Experimentations and ideations are necessary
characteristics for technological innovations (Ryfe, 2012). While big tech companies gave
means for innovation in the news sector, these media organisations become economically
dependent on these platforms to make it happen. According to respondents, most projects
could only have been undertaken due to these grants. This again leads to a lock-in
mechanism integrated into the strategy of these media outlets, which see grants from big
tech companies as the only way to develop technological innovation in their organisations.
The typology of projects funded by the GNI Innovation Challenge in Latin America
highlights the emphasis on technological innovation, reflecting the broader trend of
platformization (Silva et al., 2020) and the attendant need for media organisations to
adapt to digital environments (RQ2). However, this adaptation comes at a cost, as many
news outlets lack the necessary technological expertise and resources to execute these
innovative projects effectively (Jamil, 2023). This increases the reliance on external
partners and tech giants’ infrastructures (de-Lima-Santos et al., 2023).
The concept of path dependence manifests in the inability of news organisations to
break free from traditional revenue models and business strategies (Barnes et al., 2004;
Wilczek, 2016). The GNI Innovation Challenge projects, while promising in their
potential to generate new revenue streams, ultimately reinforce this path dependence
(Barnes et al., 2004; Nielsen & Anne Ganter, 2018), as the initiatives remain temporary
and fail to address the underlying structural issues (RQ3). Moreover, the lock-in
mechanisms become evident in the reliance of news organisations on Google’s infra­
structure and technological solutions, creating a vicious cycle of dependence and pre­
cluding them from breaking free from traditional business strategies (Simon, 2022).
Media capture also gains relevance and new forms (Schiffrin, 2021), as news organisa­
tions become increasingly reliant on the financial support and technological resources
provided by platforms like Google. While the GNI Innovation Challenge aims to
empower publishers and foster a diverse news ecosystem, these initiatives may inadver­
tently contribute to the erosion of editorial independence and autonomy over infra­
structure and innovation processes.

Conclusions
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the GNI Innovation Challenge in Latin
America, shedding light on the complex dynamics between big tech platforms and news
media organisations. Our findings underscore the intricate dynamics between big tech
platforms and media organisations, particularly in the context of Latin America. The
analysis reveals a concerning pattern of path dependence and lock-in mechanisms
emerging from the GNI Innovation Challenge, which describes these mechanisms in
the dynamics between big tech platforms and news media. The platformization era has
ushered in a power imbalance, with tech giants like Google shaping the conditions under
which news organisations operate (Helmond, 2015; Poell et al., 2022).
Overall, our respondents view the GNI Innovation Challenge as a technological
disruptor unlike any seen in decades, bringing about significant changes in how news
is produced, consumed, and distributed. Google’s grants provide media organisations
with a vision of a sustainable future through technology. However, Latin American
media outlets understand that to embrace this future, they need time and resources to
162 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

adopt advanced tools, enhance their offerings, and upgrade their technological systems –
resources that are often unavailable to them without these grants.
While the GNI Innovation Challenge aims to empower publishers and foster a diverse
news ecosystem, our findings suggest that these initiatives may inadvertently contribute
to the erosion of editorial independence and autonomy over technological infrastructure
and innovation processes. The GNI Innovation Challenge expands this dynamic in the
technological innovation space, as Google wields substantial influence in determining
which organisations receive support, the nature of that project, and its duration. This
unilateral control exerted by Google over the selection process and resource allocation
underscores the media capture by platforms (Schiffrin, 2021) and raises concerns about
the long-term sustainability of news media’s business models in this ecosystem (de-Lima-
Santos & Mesquita, 2021; Rashidian, 2020).
Prior analysis has shown that big tech companies’ commitment, particularly Facebook
and Google, to the news industry worldwide has been more substantial than philanthro­
pic foundations (Rashidian, 2020). If media outlets remain entrenched in this process,
they face the danger of developing a perpetual reliance on this strategy, akin to philan­
thropic funding. This could give rise to another form of path dependency that affects
their long-term sustainability (Sirkkunen & Cook, 2012). Furthermore, the absence of
strong agents, such as policymakers and governments, to rectify the course exacerbates
this situation. These phenomena also raise concerns about the potential consequences of
media capture by tech platforms (Schiffrin, 2021).
In nations where new legislative and regulatory processes are under discussion, which
might potentially necessitate these platforms to establish significant funding agreements
with the journalism sector, like Brazil, Google is advocating for alternative approaches.
These may include establishing fixed-term standalone funds to which these companies
would contribute (Padania, 2023). In Australia, Brazil, and Canada, countries discussing
stronger regulations for platforms, there have been reports of Google issuing threats to
withdraw funding from the news industry if the relevant legislation is enacted (Djuric,
2023; Padania, 2023). Therefore, the future of the associated funding initiatives remains
uncertain. This poses a considerably higher risk for the media industry, which has already
struggled to redefine its relationship with these platforms (van Dijck et al., 2018) and is
now encountering lobbying and pressure from these platforms.
Our findings also suggest that power dynamics in this context demonstrate path-depen­
dent characteristics, where power tends to reinforce itself. In essence, platforms establish
mechanisms that trap media organisations in a continuous cycle, significantly contributing to
the absence of a sustainable business model for these organisations. Meanwhile, platforms
play a dominant role in numerous industries and drive the development of cutting-edge
technologies (Simon, 2022). This emphasises the power dynamics and path dependence
associated with major tech companies and the media industry, raising concerns regarding the
concentration of power within these platforms (Poell et al., 2021, 2022).
Furthermore, media organisations often adopt technological innovations without
a comprehensive understanding of how they contribute to their business strategies’ long-
term sustainability. The presumption underlying this technological path dependence
suggests that it represents the best course of action until proven otherwise. Creating
a process that ensures the sustained maintenance of these projects over an extended period,
rather than relying on short-term hires and funding for temporary benefits, is essential.
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 163

Adopting a long-term strategic approach is vital for escaping the cycle of path dependence
and establishing a more sustainable trajectory (Liebowitz & Margolis, 1995).
Historically, Latin American media outlets have experienced media capture. Scholars
have described the Latin American news industry as dependent on foundation project-
based funding (Requejo-Alemán & Lugo-Ocando, 2014). This potential media capture by
big tech companies can risk media organisations being captured by platform agendas,
particularly the belief that financial stability requires technological innovation. This can
bring risks to media pluralism and independence, resulting in several projects aimed at
Google’s goals (Papaevangelou, 2024). Consequently, media outlets invest more time and
resources in developing technological innovation projects than issues deemed most
essential for them (Scott et al., 2019; Wright et al., 2019). For example, these grants can
influence media organisations to create projects that attract interest from Google without
knowing if it will actually solve their financial problem. Some of these projects have been
developed without proper anticipation, responsibility, and efforts to mitigate their
potential impacts (de-Lima-Santos et al., 2023).
In the case of the GNI Innovation Challenge, the media capture can be attributed to
the influence exerted by Google over news organisations through its influence on
fostering technological innovations in media. While Google’s stated aim is to empower
publishers and foster a diverse news ecosystem, the findings suggest that these initiatives
may incentivise these outlets to align their content and strategies with the interests of the
platform. This can inadvertently contribute to the erosion of editorial independence and
autonomy over infrastructure and innovation processes. This dependence on external
support could inadvertently lead to a compromise of these organisations’ business
strategies, as media outlets may feel compelled to adapt their content and strategies to
secure continued access to these resources. If news organisations become overly reliant
on the resources provided by powerful tech platforms, their ability to hold these entities
accountable could be compromised. It also raises important questions about the long-
term sustainability and independence of the news ecosystem.
In conclusion, this research highlights the need for a more transparent and sustainable
partnering model between news media organisations and big tech companies. Financial
and technological resources provided by platforms should support media outlets beyond
short-term products and initiatives, fostering long-term sustainability and autonomy.
Additionally, efforts should be made to address the underlying structural issues in the
news industry’s business models, enabling a more diverse and resilient ecosystem that is
not overly reliant on any single entity.
This study has potential limitations. First, because of the limited availability of
interviewees, the ancillary data reflects a minor part of the organisations that received
grants from Google. Understandably, some of these practitioners were unwilling to
disclose their experiences with us due to the unbalanced power these big tech companies
have in the media industry. Some of them mentioned non-disclosure agreements signed
with these platforms. Future research could explore these topics globally and compare
different types of projects that GNI awarded to see if our typology applies worldwide.
Additionally, future research could delve into the dynamics between publishers and other
big tech companies, particularly Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, which offer financial
support and infrastructure to the media sector. Lastly, many of these projects will likely
end after this funding period, as media outlets cannot self-sustain. Therefore, future
164 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

studies could explore how these organisations sustain some of these projects and their
effects after the end of the grant period.
Our study contributes to expanding the existing literature by elucidating the path
dependence and lock-in mechanisms of platforms in news media’s business models.
The role of platforms in driving innovative technological projects within news media
demonstrates that these grants only serve as short-term solutions for these organisa­
tions. Furthermore, it builds on the existing academic literature to extend the concept
of media capture, demonstrating that these media organisations alter their business
strategies in response to such external pressures (Enikolopov & Petrova, 2015).
Reforms encouraging more long-term, no-strings-attached funding by platforms,
along with developing a multi-revenue stream approach (de-Lima-Santos et al.,
2022), could help news media overcome their current limitations.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
This project was funded by the University of Amsterdam’s RPA Human(e) AI and by the
European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programs No 951911 (AI4Media).

Notes on contributors
Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos (Ph.D.) is a Lecturer (aka Assistant Professor) at Macquarie
University. He is also a research associate in the Digital Media and Society Observatory
(DMSO) at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), Brazil. Previously, he was
a postdoctoral researcher in the Human(e) AI project at the University of Amsterdam,
Netherlands and a researcher at the University of Navarra, Spain, under the JOLT project,
a Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network funded by the European Commission’s
Horizon 2020. He was also a Visiting Researcher at the Queensland University of Technology
(QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. Mathias-Felipe is co-editor of the book “Journalism, Data and
Technology in Latin America” published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2021. He is currently engaged
in editing a two-volume series titled “Fact-Checking in the Global South.” Furthermore, he is part
of the editorial board for Digital Journalism. His research pursuits are centered around the
transformative dynamics of communication, fueled by technological innovations, with
a particular emphasis on journalism, media, and online social networks.
Lucia Mesquita (Ph.D.) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Centre for Research in Applied
Communication, Culture, and New Technologies (CICANT) at Lusófona University, Portugal,
and was also a postdoctoral researcher at the Fujo Institute for Future Media, Democracy, and
Society at Dublin City University (DCU). In addition, she is a research associate at the DMSO
(Digital Media and Society Observatory) research group at the Federal University of São Paulo
(Unifesp) in Brazil. Lucia completed her Ph.D. at DCU. She was also an Early-Stage Researcher
within the JOLT–Harnessing Digital and Data Technology for Journalism project, a Marie-
Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network. Before joining DCU, she was a Master’s student
at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP) at the University of Lisbon in Portugal. She is
also a journalist, having graduated in 2001 from the Methodist University of Sao Paulo. Her
research interests include collaborative and cross-border journalism, media literacy, disinforma­
tion, platformization, and media studies.
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 165

ORCID
Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8879-7381

References
Barnes, W., Gartland, M., & Stack, M. (2004). Old habits die hard: Path dependency and behavioral
lock-in. Journal of Economic Issues, 38(2), 371–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2004.
11506696
Bell, E. (2019). Do technology companies care about journalism? Columbia Journalism Review.
March 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/google-facebook-journalism-influence.php
Bell, E. (2021). Are Google and facebook really the future of journalism? New policies risk making
it so. Columbia Journalism Review. April 28, 2021. https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/are-google-
and-facebook-really-the-future-of-journalism-new-policies-risk-making-it-so.php
Benson, R. (2018). Can foundations solve the journalism crisis? Journalism, 19(8), 1059–1077.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917724612
Bilton, C. (2019). The disappearing product and the new intermediaries. In M. Deuze &
M. Prenger (Eds.), Making media (1st ed., pp. 99–110). Amsterdam University Press.
Boczkowski, P. J. (2004). Digitizing the news: Innovation in online Newspapers. Inside technology.
MIT Press.
Boczkowski, P. J. (2005). Digitizing the news: Innovation in online newspapers. MIT Press.
Bossio, D., Flew, T., Meese, J., Leaver, T., & Barnet, B. (2022). Australia’s news media bargaining
code and the global turn towards platform regulation. Policy & Internet, 14(1), 136–150. https://
doi.org/10.1002/poi3.284
Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code develop­
ment. SAGE Publications.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in
Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Burrell, I. (2020). Google and facebook must pay the price for what They’ve done with news. Inews.
June 28, 2020. https://inews.co.uk/opinion/australian-regulators-leading-news-fightback-with-
pursuit-google-facebook-457946
Cestino, J., & Matthews, R. (2016). A perspective on path dependence processes: The role of
knowledge integration in business Model persistence dynamics in the provincial press in
England. Journal of Media Business Studies, 13(1), 22–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/16522354.
2015.1133785
Cornia, A., Sehl, A., & Kleis Nielsen, R. (2020). ‘We No longer live in a time of separation’:
A comparative analysis of how editorial and commercial integration became a norm.
Journalism, 21(2), 172–190. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918779919
Creech, B., & Parks, P. (2021). Promises granted: Venture philanthropy and tech ideology in
metajournalistic discourse. Journalism Studies, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.
2000340
de-Lima-Santos, M.-F., & Ceron, W. (2021). Artificial intelligence in news media: Current
perceptions and future outlook. Journalism and Media, 3(1), 13–26.
de-Lima-Santos, M.-F., & Ceron, W. (2022). Artificial intelligence in news media: Current
perceptions and future outlook. Journalism and Media, 3(1), 13–26. https://doi.org/10.3390/
journalmedia3010002
de-Lima-Santos, M.-F., & Mesquita, L. (2021). In a search for sustainability: Digitalization and its
influence on business models in Latin America. In R. Salaverría & M.-F. De Lima-Santos (Eds.),
Journalism, data and technology in Latin America (1st ed., pp. 55–96). Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65860-1_3
de-Lima-Santos, M.-F., Mesquita, L., de Melo Peixoto, J. G., & Camargo, I. (2022, February 1–25).
Digital news business models in the age of industry 4.0: Digital Brazilian news players find in
166 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

technology New ways to bring revenue and competitive advantage. Digital Journalism. https://
doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2037444
de-Lima-Santos, M.-F., Munoriyarwa, A., Elega, A. A., & Papaevangelou, C. (2023). Google news
Initiative’s influence on technological Media innovation in Africa and the Middle East. Media
and Communication, 11(2), 330–343. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i2.6400
Dencik, L., Hintz, A., Redden, J., & Treré, E. (2019). Exploring data justice: Conceptions, applica­
tions and directions. Information, Communication & Society, 22(7), 873–881. https://doi.org/10.
1080/1369118X.2019.1606268
Djuric, M. (2023). Google to limit some canadians from viewing news in response to Ottawa’s Bill
C-18. The Canadian press. February 22, 2023. https://globalnews.ca/news/9504816/google-
news-canada-limits-bill/
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. (2022). A digital path for sustainable
development in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/
bitstreams/71eb91ed-b241-41c8-9463-d1eaa3b12932/content
Ekström, M., & Westlund, O. (2019). The dislocation of news journalism: A conceptual framework
for the study of epistemologies of digital journalism. Media and Communication, 7(1), 259.
https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i1.1763
Enikolopov, R., & Petrova, M. (2015). Media capture. In Handbook of media economics. Elsevier.
https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-444-63685-0.00017-6
Fanta, A., & Dachwitz, I. (2020). Google, the media patron how the digital giant ensnares
journalism. Frankfurt. www.otto-brenner-stiftung.de.
Flew, T. (2019). Digital communication, the crisis of trust, and the post-global. Communication
Research & Practice, 5(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2019.1561394
Google News Initiative. (n.d). Accessed January 29. https://newsinitiative.withgoogle.com/about/
Helmond, A. (2015). The Platformization of the Web: Making Web data platform ready. Social
Media & Society, 1(2), 205630511560308. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115603080
Hendrikse, R., Adriaans, I., Klinge, T. J., & Fernandez, R. (2022). The big techification of
everything. Science as Culture, 31(1), 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2021.1984423
Holt, J., & Perren, A. (2019). Media industries: A decade in review. In Making media (pp. 31–44).
Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048540150-002
Hurcombe, E., Burgess, J., & Harrington, S. (2021). What’s newsworthy about ‘social news’?
Characteristics and potential of an emerging genre. Journalism, 22(2), 378–394. https://doi.
org/10.1177/1464884918793933
Jamil, S. (2023). Evolving newsrooms and the second level of digital divide: Implications for
journalistic practice in Pakistan. Journalism Practice, 17(9), 1864–1881. https://doi.org/10.1080/
17512786.2022.2026244
Jurno, A. C., & D’Andréa, C. (2020). Between partnerships, infrastructures and products:
Facebook journalism project and the platformization of journalism. Brazilian Journalism
Research, 16(3), 502–525. https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.V16N3.2021.1306
Karlsson, M. (2011). The immediacy of online news, the visibility of journalistic processes and
a restructuring of journalistic authority. Journalism, 12(3), 279–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/
1464884910388223
Kaye, J., & Quinn, S. (2010). Funding journalism in the digital age (1st ed.). Peter Lang US. https://
doi.org/10.3726/978-1-4539-0101-4
Konieczna, M. (2020). Entrepreneurship versus philanthropy: Can the market fund innovation in
the news sector? Journal of Media Business Studies, 17(2), 132–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/
16522354.2020.1719458
Lee, E. (2019). Digital media: What went wrong. The New York Times. February 1, 2019. https://
www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/business/media/buzzfeed-digital-media-wrong.html
Levy, H. (2018). The internet, politics, and inequality in contemporary Brazil: Peripheral media (1st
ed.). Lexington Books.
Liebowitz, S. J., & Margolis, S. E. (1995). Path dependence, lock-in, and history. Journal of Law,
Economics, & Organization, 11(1), 205–226. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1706450
 JOURNAL OF MEDIA BUSINESS STUDIES 167

Lugo-Ocando, J. (2020). Foreign aid and journalism in the global south: A mouthpiece for truth.
Lexington Books.
Mauri, M., Elli, T., Caviglia, G., Uboldi, G., & Azzi, M. (2017). Rawgraphs: A visualisation platform
to create open outputs. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (Vol. Part F1313. pp.
1–5). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1145/3125571.
3125585
Mellado, C., & Alfaro, A. (2020). Platforms, journalists and their digital selves. Digital Journalism,
8(10), 1258–1279. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2020.1817763
Mesquita, L., & Fernandes, K. (2021). The new praxeology of digital journalism in Latin America:
Media organizations learn how to walk by running. In R. Salaverría & M.-F. de Lima-Santos, pp.
Eds.), Journalism, data and technology in Latin America (pp. 23–53). Springer International
Publishing. (Palgrave Studies in Journalism and the Global South). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-
3-030-65860-1_2
Miotto, G., & Payne, G. (2019). Branded content: Una nueva apuesta para El new york times.
adComunica: Revista Científica de Estrategias, Tendencias e Innovación En Comunicación, 17
(January), 23–29. https://doi.org/10.6035/2174-0992.2019.17.3
Myllylahti, M. (2014). Newspaper paywalls—the hype and the reality: A study of how paid news
content impacts on media corporation revenues. Digital Journalism, 2(2), 179–194.
Myllylahti, M. (2020). Paying attention to attention: A conceptual framework for studying news
reader revenue models related to platforms. Digital Journalism, 8(5), 567–575. https://doi.org/
10.1080/21670811.2019.1691926
Napoli, P. M. (2019). Social media and the public interest: Media regulation in the disinformation
age. Columbia University Press.
Nechushtai, E. (2018). Could digital platforms capture the media through infrastructure?
Journalism, 19(8), 1043–1058. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917725163
Nielsen, R. K. (2016). The business of news. In C. W. A. Tamara Witschge, D. Domingo, &
A. Hermida (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of digital journalism (pp. 51–67). SAGE Publications
Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957909.n4
Nielsen, R. K., & Anne Ganter, S. (2018). Dealing with digital intermediaries: A case study of the
relations between publishers and platforms. New Media & Society, 20(4), 1600–1617. https://doi.
org/10.1177/1461444817701318
Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to
meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1),
160940691773384. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847
Nuttall, J. (2020). TED talk Tuesday #163: How a handful of tech companies control billions of
minds every day. Cn&co. April 21, 2020. https://www.cnandco.com/ted-talk-tuesday-163-how-
a-handful-of-tech-companies-control-billions-of-minds-every-day/
Padania, S. (2023). Media festival briefing: The role of media festivals in strengthening Independent
media. International Media Support (IMS). https://www.mediasupport.org/wp-content/
uploads/2023/08/IMS-Global-Reflection-Project-%E2%80%93-Macroscope_31_08.pdf
Paiva, R. (2018). Hegemonic media and inequality in Brazil. Global Media & China, 3(2), 100–107.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2059436418786267
Papaevangelou, C. (2024). Funding intermediaries: Google and Facebook’s strategy to capture
journalism. Digital Journalism, 12(2), 234–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2155206
Paulussen, S. (2016). Innovation in the newsroom. In C. W. A. Tamara Witschge, D. Domingo, &
A. Hermida (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of digital journalism (1st ed. pp. 192–206). SAGE
Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957909.n13
Pires, M. T. (2019). O Blog Do Google Brasil: Acelerando a Criação de Novos Produtos e Modelos
de Negócio Na Indústria Jornalística Da América Latina Em 30 Projetos. O Blog Do Google
Brasil. November 11, 2019. https://brasil.googleblog.com/2019/11/acelerando-criacao-de-
novos-produtos-e-modelos-de-negocio-na-industria-jornalistica-da-america-latina-em-30-pro
jetos.html
Poell, T., Nieborg, D. B., & Duffy, B. E. (2021). Platforms and cultural production. John Wiley &
Sons.
168 L. MESQUITA AND M.-F. DE -LIMA-SANTOS

Poell, T., Nieborg, D. B., & Duffy, B. E. (2022). Spaces of negotiation: Analyzing platform power in
the news industry. Digital Journalism, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12219
Porter, J. (2021). Google Now pays 450 sites to bring you free news, including some paywalled
stories. The verge. February 10, 2021. https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/10/22276544/google-
news-showcase-uk-argentina-launch-license-paywall-content
Rashidian, N. (2020). Platforms and publishers: The great pandemic funding push. Columbia
Journalism Review. December 17, 2020. https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/platforms-pub
lishers-pandemic-funding-news.php
Rashidian, N., Brown, P., Hansen, E., Bell, E., Albright, J., & Hartstone, A. (2018). Friend and Foe:
The platform press at the heart of journalism. Columbia Journalism Review, 2018. https://www.
cjr.org/tow_center_reports/the-platform-press-at-the-heart-of-journalism.php
Rashidian, N., Tsiveriotis, G., Brown, P., Bell, E., & Hartstone, A. (2019). Platforms and publishers
the end of an era. Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University. https://doi.org/10.
7916/d8-sc1s-2j58
Requejo-Alemán, J. L., & Lugo-Ocando, J. (2014). Assessing the sustainability of latin american
investigative nonprofit journalism. Journalism Studies, 15(5), 522–532. https://doi.org/10.1080/
1461670X.2014.885269
Ryfe, D. M. (2012). Can journalism survive?: An inside look at american newsrooms (David M. Ryfe
Eds.; 1st ed.). Polity.
Schiffrin, A. (2021). Media capture: How money, digital platforms, and governments control the
news (1st ed.). Columbia University Press.
Scott, M., Bunce, M., & Wright, K. (2019). Foundation funding and the boundaries of journalism.
Journalism Studies, 20(14), 2034–2052. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2018.1556321
Shapiro, C., & Varian, H. R. (1999). Networks and positive feedback. In C. Shapiro, & H. R. Varian
(Eds.), Information rules: A strategic Guide to the network economy (pp. 173–225). Harvard
Business School Press.
Silva, G. C. D., de-Lima-Santos, M.-F., Gruszynski Sanseverino, G., & Mesquita, L. (2020). Como
as Plataformas Digitais Provocaram Uma Ruptura No Modelo de Jornalismo Consolidado No
Século XX. Revista Eptic, 22(1), 162–178.
Simon, F. M. (2022). Uneasy bedfellows: AI in the news, platform companies and the issue of
journalistic autonomy. Digital Journalism, 10(10), 1832–1854. https://doi.org/10.1080/
21670811.2022.2063150
Sirkkunen, E., & Cook, C. (Eds.). (2012). Chasing sustainability on the net (1st ed.). COMET.
Smith, B. (2020). Big tech has crushed the news business. That’s about to change. The New York
Times. http://repositorio.unan.edu.ni/2986/1/5624.pdf
Smith, K. B. (2002). Typologies, taxonomies, and the benefits of policy classification. Policy Studies
Journal, 30(3), 379–395. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1541-0072.2002.TB02153.X
Van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & De Waal, M. (2018). The platform society: Public values in a connective
world. Oxford University Press.
Villi, M., & Robert, G. P. (2019). Transformation and innovation of media business models. In
M. Deuze & M. Prenger (Eds.), Making media (1st ed., pp. 121–132). Amsterdam University
Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvcj305r.11
Weber, M. (2017). Methodology of social sciences (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/
9781315124445
Westermeier, C. (2020). Money is data–the platformization of financial transactions. Information
Communication & Society, 23(14), 2047–2063. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1770833
Wilczek, B. (2016). Herd behaviour and path dependence in news markets: Towards an economic
theory of scandal formation. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 28(2), 137–167. https://doi.
org/10.1177/0260107916643469
Wright, K., Scott, M., & Bunce, M. (2019). Foundation-funded journalism, philanthrocapitalism
and tainted donors. Journalism Studies, 20(5), 675–695. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.
1417053