Google has joined the World Editors' Forum, mobile phone company O2, media software company Atex, Masaryk University and investment and media group PPF to launch journalism innovation initiative FUTUROOM in the Czech Republic, WAN announced last week. , the Guardian reported on Monday.

The Paris-based WAN, of which SFN is part of and under which the World Editors' Forum also operates, looks to train professional journalists in new multimedia disciplines, educate the public on the use of contemporary media forums and establish a collaborative relationship between publisher and audience.

Google is not directly funding FUTUROOM, instead supplying local staff to educate journalists on the use of online Google products such as Google Maps and Google Translate, as well as how to utilise Internet resources such as YouTube, Media Guardian reported.

The project will also open a number of Internet cafes as training and newsroom facilities. The cafes will provide Internet education and an interactive newsroom environment were the public can watch and discuss the production of the newspaper with the reporters. The enterprise describes this as "hyperlocal journalism," the reconnection of newspapers and advertisers with the communities they serve.

The initiative hopes to reinstate the value of the newspaper with the public, creating a loyal readership and hopefully offsetting some of the economic woes faced by the Czech newspaper industry, which has seen some titles close.

The main financial input has come from PPF, which invested €10 million in FUTUROOM.