U.S. tech giant Google LLC announced Thursday that it has started its News Showcase service in Japan, providing news content from more than 40 domestic newspapers and news agencies.
Google signed contracts to pay licensing fees to the participating providers, which will include The Yomiuri Shimbun from next month.
In the new service, the headlines of stories selected by the media outlets are displayed in panels on existing news services such as Google News. When the user clicks on a headline, they can read the story on the media outlet's website. Some paid content can also be viewed.
Google announced last October the launch of News Showcase worldwide, saying it would pay content providers a total of 1 billion dollar over three years in usage fees. Germany, Brazil and India are among the countries in which it is already running.
"As the media companies incur costs for reporting and editing stories, it is reasonable that Google pay a fee," Keio University Prof. Keigo Komamura said. "On the other hand, there is the aspect that news is public property, and not everything can be reflected in prices. Newspaper companies should take the announcement as an opportunity to disseminate accurate information more widely and make further efforts to distribute high-quality stories.
"To enhance dependability in the service, it will be necessary for the two sides to work together to respond to and prevent fake news "
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
