With News Showcase, Google offers a virtual kiosk to read paid articles for free. A new section of Google News, which results from a partnership with publishers of the French press.
After a graphic overhaul, Google News – also known as Google News – is enriched with a new section that will interest all those who like to leaf through newspapers in bookstores or libraries: with its News Showcase module, the giant of the Internet makes it possible to read French press articles free of charge, reserved in principle for paying readers – individually or by subscription. To set up this brand new virtual kiosk in France, Google has partnered with 65 major national, regional and local press organs, such as 20 minutes, La Dépêche, L’Equipe, L’Express, Le Figaro, La Provence, Le Monde, Les Echos, the EBRA Group and Le Parisien. Each title thus has a kind of showcase in which it can display three articles highlighted in a large panel, which allows it to discover them free of charge to potential new readers. Available both in Google News – accessible for free on the Web, via a simple browser, or with the mobile application on Android and iOS, but also through Google Discover, Google News Showcase represents the culmination of two years of negotiations with press actors.
Google News Showcase: a selection of articles from the publishers
Google News Showcase highlights articles chosen by the editorial staff – the proposals are therefore independent of the user’s tastes and their favorite subjects -, which allows them to have better control of their image by directing readings to complete and worthwhile articles. Users also have everything to gain since they can access normally paid content – these famous articles of which you can only read the first ten lines unless you take out a subscription. Of course, Google pays editors for each paid article offered, and this “offer” allows the media to attract the reader – much like the free trial months.
“For more than 20 years, we have been supporting press publishers in their digital transformation […]. Through News Showcase, our other news products and Google News Initiative programs, we are proud to promote quality journalism and support the reliability and diversity of the news industry.”says Google on his blog. However, the company has not always maintained good relations with the French media. In 2020, it was forced by the Competition Authority to pay publishers for extracts from articles published by the search engine, and was fined 500 million euros for not having negotiated “good faith” with press editors. Fortunately, things have since settled down, in particular through agreements signed with more than 300 press titles, including AFP.