Google has announced the launch of its global product News Showcase in India. The program was launched in October,2020. It is a global program to pay news publishers for their content posted online.
It allows publishers to curate content and provide limited access to paywalled stories for users. Google signed the agreement with 30 Indian publishers to offer access to some of their content on News Showcase which includes HT Digital streams Ltd, The Hindu Group, The Indian Express group, ABP Live, India TV, NDTV, Zee News, Amar Ujala, Deccan Herald, Punjab Kesari, The Telegraph India and ANI.
How will it work?
The content from these publishers will appear in dedicated News Showcase panels in Google News and on Discover pages. Initially it’ll be available in English and Hindi only. Other local languages will be available later this year.
Google has signed licensing agreements with publishers for editorial curation. It will also pay news organisations to give readers access to a limited amount of paywalled content. This product is currently working across multiple countries including UK, Germany and Australia.
Training 50K professionals
Google has also announced that under the Google News Initiative (GNI) Program, it will train 50,000 professional journalists and students in strengthening their digital skills to aid reporting and combat misinformation online.
With GNI Digital growth program, the company said, it will offer free training workshops in audience development and product innovation to new businesses. It will also invest in product training sessions and implementation support to help more than 800 small and mid-sized Indian news organisations and growing their digital ad revenue with its existing GNI advertising lab.
Recent Past
The News Showcase program was initiated last year after Google faced demands from the Australian and French authorities to pay news publishers for their content. Read more about the issue here.
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