Why Google-Backed Press Fund Strayed From Its Mission to Help Charlie Hebdo


Charlie Hebdo is printing 7 million copies of its “survivor’s issue,” published one week after terrorists attacked the magazine’s Paris office Jan. 7, killing 12 people. To print the additional copies, Charlie Hebdo, which usually puts out 60,000 copies per issue, received financial help from French media, the U.K.’s Guardian and Google’s Digital Innovation Press Fund.

The Digital Innovation Press Fund donated roughly 250,000 to Charlie Hebdo even though funding a publisher’s print efforts is not part of the group’s mandate. Its mission, instead, is to help French publishers succeed in the digital age by paying for 60% of a project such as a mobile app or website redesign.

The Charlie Hebdo donation was “an exceptional answer to an exceptional situation,” said Ludovic Blecher, the fund’s director. “It has nothing to do with what the fund is doing on a daily basis.”

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