Google on Tuesday announced the roll-out of News Showcase in India with 30 news publishers, including national, regional and local news organisations.
The News Showcase allows partnering publishers to curate content which is displayed as story panels on Google’s News and Discover platforms.
The technology firm also pays the publishers to license their content, providing limited access to pay-walled content for readers.
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In India, Google has partnered with news organisations, including The Hindu Group, HT Digital Streams Ltd., The Indian Express Group, ABP LIVE, India TV, NDTV, Zee News, Amar Ujala, Deccan Herald, Punjab Kesari, The Telegraph India, IANS and ANI.
Globally, more than 700 news publications have signed agreements for Google News Showcase in countries including Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the U.K., Australia, Czechia, Italy and Argentina.
“Today’s announcement comes at a particularly challenging moment in India, with Indians seeking out authoritative news and information as the COVID-19 crisis deepens,” said Brad Bender, VP, Product, News, Google. “To support news organisations and readers, we’re introducing Google News Showcase, our new online experience and licensing programme,” he added.
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He added that this programme incentivised and supported news publishers to curate high quality content on Google News and Discover platforms, connecting readers with the news they needed.
The content from Indian publisher partners in English and Hindi will begin to appear in dedicated News Showcase panels in Google News and on Discover, with support for more Indian languages to be added in the future.
“As part of the licensing agreements with publishers, Google will pay participating news organisations to give readers access to a limited amount of pay-walled content. This feature means readers will have the opportunity to read more of a publisher’s articles than they would otherwise be able to, while deepening readers’ relationships with publishers and encouraging them to subscribe,” he said.
The technology giant also announced plans to expand its work to strengthen digital skills in newsrooms and journalism schools across India to train 50,000 journalists and journalism students to aid reporting and combat misinformation online.
Sanjay Gupta, V-P, Google India, said, “Today, we’re also announcing the expansion of our Google News Initiative efforts to bolster journalist training efforts, and new programmes to support over 800 small and mid-sized publications achieve financial sustainability with trainings in audience development and product innovation to support.”