FP TrendingMay 20, 2021 10:27:05 IST
Google has introduced a new initiative called News Showcase that provides news outlets with an opportunity to provide people with quality content during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic times. Google News Showcase is an online and licensing program, which will provide news publishers with ways to provide readers with high-quality content on Google News and Discover platforms. For this, Google has collaborated with 30 news outlets in India including The Hindu Group, HT Digital Streams Ltd, Indian Express Group, ABP LIVE, India TV, NDTV, Deccan Herald, Zee News, The Telegraph India, Amar Ujala, Punjab Kesari, IANS (Indo Asian News Service), and ANI.
Google will also pay the news outlets for the paywalled content so that readers can easily access the otherwise paid content for free. Image: Google
For those who don’t know, Google News Showcase already includes around 700 news publishers in a number of countries such as Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the UK, Australia, Czechia, Italy, and Argentina. Content from these publications will appear on Google News and Google Discover in both English and Hindi. The program will soon support other Indian languages this year.
Google will also pay the news outlets for the paywalled content so that readers can easily access the otherwise paid content for free.
In addition to this, Google is expanding its Google News initiative as well. The aim is to “strengthen digital skills in newsrooms and journalism schools across India”.
Google will introduce News Labs to train journalists, digital tools to combat fake news and introduce more ways for journalists and fact-checkers to connect with each other. Additionally, new programs will be introduced for small and mid-sized publications to become financially stable as part of the GNI Digital Growth Program.
The new Google initiatives come in addition to the existing GNI India Training Network and the GNI Journalism Emergency Relief Fund programs.
