Gamified app Newsreel, aimed at encouraging young people to develop news habits, has secured $100,000 investment from the Glen Nelson Center at American Public Media Group.

Over the past year, the company has launched its app in colleges and libraries across the US.

“Social media companies are eating news’ lunch,” said Jack Brewster, Newsreel’s founder and CEO.

“We’ve completely ceded the direct relationships we once had to readers to big tech. I’m not waiting for another platform to save us. Journalists built the content that made those feeds valuable in the first place, and now we’re building the technology that puts people, not algorithms, back at the center.

“This investment shows that credible media can innovate on its own terms and punch back by creating something better.”

Jeff Freeland Nelson, APMG’s director of venture investments, said: “Newsreel represents exactly the kind of mission-driven innovation we aim to support, combining rigorous journalism with the kind of human-centered design young audiences actually want to engage with.”

Newsreel turns verified reporting into interactive story stacks, polls, and quizzes.

A recently-launched social layer lets users see how their friends are engaging with the news, nudge them to read certain stories, compare polling responses, and compete on leaderboards.