TORONTO — Google Canada has signed agreements with eight Canadian publishers for a new product and licensing program that will pay news organizations to create and curate high-quality journalism.
The tech giant says the Google News Showcase will provide customizable space for newsrooms to produce, distribute and explain essential information to readers.
The company says it’s paying news organizations for access to select paywalled content as part of the licensing deals, giving Canadians access to a wide range of news content and potentially driving subscriptions for the media outlets.
Sabrina Geremia, vice-president and country manager of Google Canada, says journalists have been a lifeline during the pandemic and the company is eager to support a sustainable news ecosystem in Canada.
She says the company is also expanding its Google News Initiative in Canada and plans to train 5,000 Canadian journalists on digital skills over the next three years.
The Canadian publishers that have signed agreements are Black Press Media, Glacier Media, The Globe and Mail, Métro Média, Narcity Media, SaltWire Network, Village Media and Winnipeg Free Press.
The publishers represent over 70 national, regional and community news organizations in French and English.
Google News Showcase “looks like customizable panels that will show up in Google News and a product that we have called Discover,” Geremia said, referring to a personalized content feed.
“These are panels that newsrooms will be curating and they will be providing stories with their editorial voice.”
While Google did not reveal the value of the eight licensing deals in Canada, the agreements are part of a broader $1 billion investment in global partnerships with news publishers Google announced last year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2021.