TORONTO – Google Canada is announcing today major investments to support Canadian newsrooms and journalists across the country, according to an early morning press release.
Google Canada has signed agreements with Canadian publishers for Google News Showcase, a new product and licensing program “that provides a customizable space for news content in Google News and Discover. These deals will help support Canadian newsrooms who provide comprehensive general interest news to the communities they serve,” reads the press release.
“This long-term investment will support news organizations in producing, distributing, and explaining essential information to readers. Among the Canadian publishers signed are Black Press Media, Glacier Media, The Globe and Mail, Métro Média, Narcity Media, SaltWire Network, Village Media and Winnipeg Free Press.” Those publishers represent over 70 national, regional and community news organizations in English and French.
No broadcasters are mentioned in the release, nor are two of Canada’s largest publishers, Torstar and Postmedia.
“We’ve never relied on high-quality, community-based journalism more than we have during the Covid crisis,” said Sabrina Geremia, vice-president and country head at Google Canada. “As we move out of this crisis, Google Canada is stepping up its role to support a sustainable news ecosystem in Canada. By paying publishers directly through our Google News Showcase program and expanding our Google News Initiative efforts in Canada to train 5,000 Canadian journalists on digital skills over the next three years, our commitment to supporting news in Canada has never been stronger.”
Part of the deals will see Google pay news organizations for access to select paywalled content, giving Canadians access to a wider range of news content. “We work closely with news outlets to determine the right amount of content to share to help drive subscriptions as users experience the benefits of subscribing to authoritative news outlets,” reads the release.
“Building on the signed publisher agreements announced today, Google is in active conversations with additional publishers across the country to expand the Google News Showcase initiative and strengthen Canada’s access to news. We look forward to launching the product here soon.”
Plus, over the next three years Google will train 5,000 Canadian journalists and journalism students on strengthening digital skills in newsrooms – a five-times increase from the 1,000 journalists it has already trained to date, says the company. It will also expand workshops and other programs to help small and mid sized news organizations learn digital skills and grow.
“Today’s news represents a shared goal that Google and news publishers in Canada are focused on – long term success for journalism in Canada. To help achieve that, Google is committed to playing a constructive role and working alongside publishers to enable a sustainable future for news that Canadians can depend on for years to come,” adds the announcement.
Financial terms of the publisher deals were not announced.
Please click here for the full release.
