Google announced Thursday that it’s set to launch the company’s long-awaited news app, News Showcase, in the US later this summer.
The tech giant said in a news release that it’s partnering with more than 150 news publications, about 90% of which are local organizations, for the launch. Organizations based in states like Louisiana, Illinois and California, as well as national publications like the Associated Press and Reuters, have partnered with Google for News Showcase.
Google also said the News Showcase launch is part of a push to help support local news organizations. As part of that effort, the Google News Initiative is partnering with five news associations to give financial grants and training to almost a thousand journalists in the US.
“Our goal is to help [local news organizations] build sustainable businesses, connect with readers and engage audiences,” Chris Jansen, Google’s head of local news and global partnerships, wrote in the release. “We’re dedicated to supporting local newsrooms across the US.”
This new comes as more local and national governments
push for online platforms, like Google and Meta, to share advertising revenue with media organizations. California lawmakers, for example, passed the Journalism Preservation Act on June 1. The act would require platforms like Google and Meta to pay news organizations that share content on those platforms a percentage of advertising revenue.
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