With its new initiative to be a collaborator with journalism innovators, Google News Lab seeks to empower journalism innovators and media entrepreneurs with online tools, data and programs for reporting and storytelling.

Google describes News Lab as part of the ongoing global democratization of news, which is in line with the company’s mission to organize the world’s information and make is universally accessible and useful. Its tool arsenal, from Maps to YouTube to Fusion Tables (data visualization), is designed to assist reporters in researching, reporting and distributing the news as well as with engaging audiences. Google is providing tutorials for its different tools and programs online and worldwide. 

The company also has formed partnerships with a number of organizations and companies to expand news innovation. It is holding a series of TechRaking events with the Center for Investigative Reporting: hackathons focused on developing new investigative tools such as drones, online databases, and more. 

For citizen journalism, Google is working with three projects — First Draft, the WITNESS Media Lab, and the YouTube Newswire, a partnership with Storyful.

In related action, Google has updated Google Trends to make it more timely and reflect the feedback it received from newsrooms and data journalists.