There’s a new development in the Government’s attempt to fix the power imbalance between Australian news publishers and the tech giants: Google’s News Showcase. The new product launched in early February, with Google saying it would let them pay for news without ‘selling links’. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has lowkey endorsed this solution, encouraging publishers to make commercial deals outside of the proposed News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC).
So what is News Showcase, how does it work, and will it reduce Google’s power to commercialise news content without paying? Here’s the lowdown.
How does News Showcase work?
Essentially, News Showcase is a pop-out box or widget style product that ‘showcases’ (geddit?) the best news stories of the day from participating publishers. You’ll can already see it in the Google News app, and it will apparently appear on the News tab of your Google search on all devices – however it does not appear to be visible there yet.
You swipe through the ‘panels’ to see a selection of headlines from participating news sites. If you click through, it takes you straight to the site.
Each news outlet gets to choose the stories that appear in the Showcase box each day – Google doesn’t pick them, and the stories won’t necessarily be relating to what the user was searching. It’s simply showing what the news site considers it’s best work for the day. Publishers can choose to turn their paywalls off for stories in the News Showcase box.
Google pays each participating publisher an annual ‘fee’ to display their content in that little box. Each publisher negotiates their own deal – most have chosen not to release the their deals, except for SevenWest media which is reportedly more than AU$30m per year.
It’s basically a discovery tool, making it easier for Australians to find local news.
Which Australian publishers are on it?
So far seven Aussie publishers have struck deals to appear on Google’s News Showcase: SevenWest Media, Crikey Media, The New Daily, Schwarz Publishing (who run The Saturday Paper and The Monthly), Conversation Media, Solstice Media, and Australian Community Media.
But not all publishers are as keen to get involved. Nine Entertainment Co. slammed Google when Showcase launched in Australia – as the country’s biggest news publishers, both Nine and NewsCorp Australia stand to gain the most from the proposed NMBC legislation.
Is it a good solution?
Here’s why some people believe this is a good compromise for news publishers:
- By giving the publishers control over which articles appear in the Showcase box, it takes some of the power away from the Google algorithm to dictate what content a user sees. This makes it easier for news sites to make sure you can discover their best content, without it being hidden in search results or pushed down by big international news brands.
- At the centre of it all is money: Google and Facebook have siphoned so much advertising revenue out of the media landscape, commercialising content created by publishers. News Showcase would ensure that publishers receive some payment from Google, which is better than nothing!
- Critics of the draft NMBC argued that News Corp and Nine were using it to financially prop up their print, TV and radio arms – which are much more expensive than digital news. But digital platforms like Google and FB have less of an impact on print, radio and TV, and so shouldn’t be expected to subsidise, say, printing of The Australian newspaper. News Showcase keeps the focus on digital news only.
- Similarly, the code has been accused of being a tool for Nine and News Corp to drown out smaller, diverse media voices (like Zee Feed!) by forcing Google and Facebook to preference them as ‘reputable’ outlets. News Showcase maintains media diversity by allowing Google to strike deals with any news publishers they want, big or small.
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What are the criticisms of News Showcase?
But it’s not all warm and fuzzy feelings. Some of the strongest criticisms are:
- Critics say it doesn’t address the real issue, which is Google’s use of features like news snippets, knowledge panels, fast-loading AMP pages etc to intercept users going to the news sites, and limit the revenue sites get from that traffic. As a search monopoly, Google commercialises users looking for news, and siphons money out of the media industry – News Showcase doesn’t change that.
- News Showcase has become very controversial in France, where Google struck a deal with 121 publishers. Because the negotiations are not transparent, Google could be paying some outlets much more than others and does not have to justify why. It also excluded some major news outlets, including the French Press Agency. And lastly, the agreement included a USD$10m clause to prevent news outlets suing Google for copyright infringement… Why would this clause be needed? It’s not ethical to prevent legitimate copyright claims from being pursued.
- The NBMC was meant to create a public negotiation process, where the value of both the tech giants and the news publishers would factor into the fee for news journalism. Introducing News Showcase – a product that Google completely owns and controls – is a way for them to sidestep open negotiations and force publishers to operate completely on their terms. If you don’t agree, you lose out altogether.
- And lastly, the billion dollar question. Google has made lots of noise about its commitment to invest $1.1b dollars in news publishers through Showcase… globally. Given the French deal is worth USD$98m (averaging out to $180,000 per year, per publisher) is it really enough?
