Google is giving $5 million in grants to non-profit organizations that are working to develop new approaches to journalism in the digital age.

"Journalism is fundamental to a functioning democracy," said Nikesh Arora, president of Google's global sales operations and business development. "So as media organizations globally continue to broaden their presence online, we're eager to play our part on the technology side," Arora said.

"But while we're mostly focused on working with news organizations to develop better products for users, we also believe it's crucial to encourage innovation at the grassroots level," he said. "Our aim is to benefit news publishers of all sizes."

Google has already granted $2 million to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has a proven track record of supporting programs that drive innovation in journalism. It will use $1 million to support U.S. grant-making in this crucial area. The other $1 million will augment the Knight News Challenge, which is accepting funding proposals from anyone, anywhere in the world, until December 1. Now in its fifth year, the News Challenge has supported projects like DocumentCloud, which aims to bring more investigative-reporting source material online so anyone can find and read it.

Google we will be investing the remaining $3 million in journalism projects in other countries through a similar partnership.