Google donating $300k to help French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo hit a 1m print-run

A minute’s silence in the newsroom of French news agency Agence France Presse (Photo: Bertrand Guay)

In response to the terrorist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Google is one of a number of companies contributing to a campaign fund to ensure the survival of the publication and to help it reach a print-run of one million copies for its next edition, reports the Guardian. The normal print-run of the publication is around 60,000 copies.

Within 24 hours of the massacre of 12 people – including eight journalists – some €250,000 (£195,000) had been earmarked to support Charlie Hebdo by the Digital Press Fund, paid for by Google, to support the French press.

Le Monde, France Télévisions and Radio France are all working to match Google’s donation of €250k (around $300k), while the Guardian is itself contributing $150k … 

Such is the strength of feeling in France in support of the value of free speech, that the French government is itself contributing $1.2M to the cause.

At the time of writing, two suspects in the killings are believed to have taken hostages in the Porte de Vincennes area of eastern Paris.

Below you can see Google France’s homepage showing support for the magazine as well.