Newsrooms from more than 60 Spanish publishing groups, totaling 140 titles, will begin a new phase this week by showcasing selected content through Google News Showcase. This service enables publishers to share timely information via Google News and Google Discover offerings, expanding the reach of their reporting to audiences across apps and web platforms.
Under this arrangement, Google provides a licensing framework that lets participating media curate and present a chosen slate of stories in a dedicated panel, alongside their headlines and brand visuals. Journalists from the partner outlets contribute by creating and selecting the material displayed on screens, guiding readers to the full articles hosted on each outlet’s own site.
Readers access the curated panels through Google News, the platform’s aggregation site accessible on Android, iOS, and web devices, as well as via Google Discover on mobile devices. Each member outlet operates under an individual license with Google, with the tech company compensating news organizations for limited access to the content they produce.
Industry sources in California emphasize the publishers’ ability to choose content that represents high quality and is highly relevant to users, presenting it in a self-branded panel. They also note that the monetary terms are designed to be fair, reflecting contributions from each publisher involved.
The criteria shared with participating titles focus on timely, accurate information and access to stories that matter to readers. The aim is to keep citizens better informed through clear and credible reporting. At the same time, partners stress that content must adhere to Google’s disinformation policy, and that compensation is influenced by the visibility and perceived quality of each story. Content created primarily to drive clicks without substantive value is warned against and will not affect overall compensation.
Since the global launch of Google News Showcase in October 2020, more than 1,700 media outlets from twenty countries have joined the program. Countries include Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Colombia, Germany, Brazil, New Zealand, Canada, Portugal, Italy, and Argentina, illustrating the project’s broad international footprint and its adaptiveness to different media ecosystems [Attribution: Google News Showcase program data].
Spain celebrated a reactivation of Google News Showcase in July, marking the end of a long period of limited activity and aligning with the twentieth anniversary of the project after the European copyright directive was incorporated into Spanish law at the close of 2021 through a royal decree. This renewed effort is available to all publishers that meet the platform’s informational content policies for news aggregation and discovery [Attribution: Google announcements].
The reactivation applies to publishers that comply with the content guidelines established for News Showcase and related aggregation services. The arrangement with Google is governed by terms agreed individually with each publisher, with some media organizations noting concerns about reliance on collective bargaining channels rather than private negotiations. They argue that negotiations should involve representative bodies to ensure broad participation and fairness in the process, fostering a balanced environment for newsrooms across the country [Attribution: industry commentary].