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Google on Tuesday announced the roll out of ‘News Showcase’ in India with 30 news publishers, including national, regional and local news organizations.
The News Showcase allows partnering publishers to curate content which is displayed as story panels on Google’s News and Discover platforms. The technology giant also pays the publishers to license their content, providing limited access to paywalled content for readers.
In India, Google has partnered with organisations, including The Hindu Group, HT Digital Streams Ltd, Indian Express Group, ABP LIVE, India TV, NDTV, Zee News, Amar Ujala, Deccan Herald, Punjab Kesari, The Telegraph India, IANS and ANI. Globally, over 700 news publications have signed agreements for Google News Showcase in countries, including Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the UK, 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. To support news organizations and readers, we’re introducing Google News Showcase, our new online experience and licensing program,” Brad Bender, VP, Product, News, Google, said.
He added that this program incentivises and supports news publishers to curate high quality content on Google News and Discover platforms, connecting readers with the news they need.
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 organizations to give readers access to a limited amount of paywalled 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, Vice President, Google India, said, “Today, we’re also announcing the expansion of our Google News Initiative efforts to bolster journalist training efforts, and new programs to support over 800 small and mid-sized publications achieve financial sustainability with trainings in audience development and product innovation to support.”
