Libération wins Google-supported digital press prize

They were ingenious ideas. At the first ever Google-supported GEN Editor’s Lab Paris, a team from the French daily Libération developed an online application called Qui+. The application tags faces in photos that are published on the the newspaper’s website, linking to additional information about image. According to Libération’s Florent Latrive, Qui+ will be implemented in the newsroom during the first half of 2013. Ask Media was the runner up, with an application called InstaLive that organizes streaming social media photos by hashtags, facilitating the process of photo selection for editorial use.

Held last week in Le Nouvel Observateur’s headquarters near the Paris Stock Exchange, the day long workshop demonstrated how Google and newspapers can find common ground on bringing high-quality journalism to the net.



Seven different media organizations across a wide range of the French media spectrum participated. They included Le Nouvel Observateur, Libération, France 24, Play Bac Presse, Ask Media, Citizenside, and OWNI. Several Google speakers took part. Daniel Sieberg, author of the book Digital Diet, gave a keynote speech about the value of innovation in journalism and Christian Witt, Google TV’s development manager, held a masterclass on digital Internet-enabled TV.

During the event, each participating media represented an Editors' Lab teams. At the end of the workshop portion each presented a five minute pitch of their projects. Both winning teams are invited to the next level of the Editors’ Lab: The International News Hackathon, which will take place at the GEN News Summit from 19 - 21 June 2013.

Posted by Alexandra Laferriere, Public Policy & Government Affairs Manager, France