The Global Editors Network (GEN) was an international association of over 6,000 editors-in-chief and media executives with the mission of fostering digital innovation in newsrooms all over the world.

Its founding members were leading editors and top executives at The Washington Post, El País, BBC, Le Monde, Aftenposten, The Guardian, Clarìn, and many other media brands worldwide.

It was more obvious every day that they are members of the same community, all driven by a journalistic imperative and a common goal: how to invent tomorrow's journalism and to make it sustainable.

[10] This conference also included the Data Journalism Awards ceremony, one of the main programmes of GEN, along with Startups for News, and the Editors Lab final.

It was a place built for journalists, coders, designers, experts, consultants, companies, foundations, volunteers, NGOs, and everyone involved or interested in the use and development of data journalism.

GEN selects startups that challenge the status quo with new editorial services for newsrooms or new ways of delivering journalistic content.

[40] In 2018, GEN partnered with the European Forest Institute to launch the pilot project Lookout360°,[41] which supports journalists produce 360-degree videos on climate change and people’s lives.

It combines in-field training and 3-month mentorship to support journalists produce immersive stories with a focus on climate change.

[46] The 14 GEN Board Members[47] were executives from news organisations such as Mic, ProPublica, El País, Clarín, Rappler, Cheddar, Aftenposten, etc.

The President since September 2018 was Jim Roberts (editor-in-chief, Cheddar.com, replacing Cory Haik, former publisher of MIC and Peter Bale (former Chief Executive Officer at the Center for Public Integrity),[48] after two years.

The previous GEN Presidents were Xavier Vidal-Folch, Deputy Director of El País, and Ricardo Kirschbaum, the General Editor of Clarín.

CEO Bertrand Pecquerie said In a statement that it had become increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between GEN’s three main funding sources and to further diversify them.