Google partners with Irish news publishers to support journalism

24 Sep 2021

Image: © piter2121/Stock.adobe.com

Through Google News Showcase, the company will license content from Irish news outlets and help increase the reach of their stories.

Google is partnering with seven Irish news publishers to license content for its News Showcase platform.

The Irish Times, The Journal, Celtic Media and Iconic Media are some of the organisations that will benefit from Google’s $1bn global investment in news media. Together, the seven publishers represent almost 40 local, regional and national news outlets in Ireland.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the investment in October last year and said that the company would pay publishers to create and curate high-quality content for a “different kind” of online news experience.

“Google News Showcase is a new product that will benefit both publishers and readers,” he wrote in a company blog post. “It features the editorial curation of award-winning newsrooms to give readers more insight on the stories that matter, and in the process, helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences.”

The search giant said it plans to roll out News Showcase for Irish readers “in the coming months”. It aims to help news outlets by letting them curate their content on Google’s News and Discover platforms to boost their reach and connect them to new readers.

‘A real opportunity’ for news

“The Irish Times agreement with Google News Showcase is a welcome acknowledgement of the value of trusted news sources in modern democracies,” Liam Kavanagh, managing director of the Irish Times, said. “It means titles in The Irish Times Group have more support to provide high-quality, independent journalism to a wider audience.”

Journal Media CEO Adrián Acosta added that Google’s News Showcase would be a “valuable” tool to help provide open access to journalism in Ireland. “Presenting headlines with meaningful context in Google News is a better news experience for the public. It builds users’ understanding of the news and the value of journalism.”

Frank Mulrennan, CEO of Celtic Media, said that the partnership is “a real opportunity” to build an audience and “then drive readers back to our publisher sites for the fuller story”.

Google said that nearly 1,000 publications across the world have signed deals for News Showcase since last year, including outlets in the UK, India, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Argentina and Australia – with more discussions taking place in other countries.

Earlier this year, France’s competition authority hit Google with a €500m fine for failing to comply with orders to engage with news publishers in the country on compensation for using their news content.

Last year, Google was also raising concerns in Australia over the country’s News Media Bargaining Code, which would force tech companies to share ad revenue with news publishers. Earlier this year, it said News Showcase would help support publishers without requiring payment for links.

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Vish Gain was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com