For years, Google has had a markedly shaky relationship with news organizations, from accusations of stealing the news to persecution over a seemingly inevitable shift in channels. Now in an effort to “encourage innovation at a more grassroots level”, Google has donated $5 million for innovation in digital journalism to be divvied between the Knight Foundation, an organization that drives innovation in journalism, and selected international journalism projects, which will be released in the New Year.

While the search giant believes that this move will promote democracy and encourage evolution in the news industry, it is also part of their policy (and their clearly philanthropic nature) to contribute 1% of all profits to charity. This olive branch aims to help news industries who have fallen behind the curve and also arrives in perfect time to smooth over recent comments made by Google CEO Eric Schmidt that folks that don’t like Google Map’s street view of their homes “can just move”.

To learn more, visit the Google blog here.