Google launches News Showcase in India with 30 news publishers

The aim is to support news organisations and readers supports news publishers to curate high quality content on Google's News and Discover platforms in the country,  connecting readers with the news they need, especially in these tough Covid-19 times.

"This builds on News Showcase deals signed by 700 news publications in more than a dozen countries, including Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the U.K. Australia,  Czechia, Italy and Argentina, more than 90 per cent of them representing local or community news - with discussions underway in several other countries," said Brad Bender, VP Product Management, News.

Content from the Indian publisher partners in English and Hindi will begin to appear in dedicated News Showcase panels in Google News and on Discover.

"We're committed to launching in additional Indic languages this year and we'll continue to incorporate more languages in the future. As part of our licensing agreements  with publishers, we're also paying participating news organisations to give readers access to a limited amount of paywalled content," said Sanjay Gupta, Vice President of Google India.

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".

Over  the next three years, with increased support from the News Lab, Google will train 50,000 journalists and journalism students in the country.

"We'll focus on digital  tools to aid verification and combat misinformation online, and we'll expand our programs to connect Indian journalists and fact-checkers," said Google.

The GNI Advertising  Lab, which includes training sessions and implementation support to help more than 800 small Indian news organizations grow their digital ad revenue.

"These investments will help people find quality journalism, contribute to the sustainability of news organizations, and expand our programs under the Google News Initiative - enabling newsrooms  to engage their readers in new and compelling ways through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond," the company stressed.