Google’s Juani Marchese is excited by the potential of new journalism tools

By Paula Felps

INMA

Nashville, Tennessee, United States

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Editor’s note: In an ongoing series, INMA is profiling our most engaged members — our super fans. Today we profile Juan Marchese, news industry relations manager for Google in Mountain View, California.

Juani Marchese was working for a high-profile national television broadcast company for a country in Latin America as the presidential elections were approaching and many voting machine manufacturers were bidding to win the government contract for the presidential elections. 

Marchese’s company brought a team of cyber-security experts on the air and let them try to hack each machine.

“We were able to prove the vulnerability of that system to electoral fraud,” Marchese said. Many people opposed such a tactic, but that didn’t deter them: “In the end, our mission-driven mentality was greater than any threat. This was so important to show the public the challenges these machines faced, and I constantly reminded myself of the public we were serving.”

Now, as news industry relations manager for Google in Mountain View, California, Marchese serves the public in different ways. INMA recently caught up with Marchese to learn more about him. 

As news industry relations manager for Google in Mountain View, California, Juani Marchese is proud of the Google News Initiative 2020 Journalism Emergency Relief Fund, which he said was deployed with great efficiency.
As news industry relations manager for Google in Mountain View, California, Juani Marchese is proud of the Google News Initiative 2020 Journalism Emergency Relief Fund, which he said was deployed with great efficiency.

INMA: What big lesson have you learned over the past couple of years that helped shape your plans for the future?

Marchese: To be comfortable with uncertainty.

INMA: What makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning?

Marchese: Breakfast. And reading the morning news!

INMA: What success within your company are you most proud of right now?

Marchese: The Google News Initiative 2020 Journalism Emergency Relief Fund, which was deployed with great efficiency! The fund aimed to support small- and medium-sized news organisations in the production of original journalism for local communities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

INMA: What do you do to relax?

Marchese: Swim! And walk my dog.

INMA: If you hadn’t gone into news media, what was your backup plan?

Marchese: Going to med school.

INMA: What is your favourite thing to read?

Marchese: The beautiful intersection between literature and journalism: Non-fiction! Authors such as Truman Capote, Gabo Garcia Marquez, Tom Wolfe, and Rodolfo Walsh.

INMA:  What do you find the most challenging/interesting about the news media industry right now?

Marchese: One of the most interesting things I’m seeing is the potential for new cutting-edge technologies to help solve some of the most prominent challenges regarding business models.

About Paula Felps

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