Times of San Diego is one of approximately 150 publishers initially included in the new American version of Google News Showcase that debuted on Wednesday morning.
Showcase was introduced in Germany and Brazil in 2020 to allow publishers to make editorial choices about which articles to show readers and how to present them in contrast to algorithmic search.
Initial participants in the United States range from national publishers like the New York Times to regional newspapers like the Salt Lake Tribune and local news sites like The Almanac on the San Francisco peninsula.
Times of San Diego was the first participant in Showcase from Southern California on Wednesday morning.
“Through Google News Showcase, participating publishers can uniquely package the stories that appear in Google’s news products, currently Google News and Discover,” Google said on a website describing the service. “The platform also offers deeper storytelling and more context with features like timelines within stylized news panels, related articles, and bullets.”
Articles in Showcase are free to read, even if the publication has a paywall in place, encouraging readers to learn more about the publication and potentially subscribe.
Google said it plans to ramp up distribution of Showcase to all online users gradually over the course of the next few weeks
Chris Jennewein, editor and publisher of Times of San Diego, said participating in Showcase is part of his website’s commitment to make trustworthy local news as widely available as possible in the San Diego region and elsewhere in California.
“We’re delighted to be working with Google to increase the distribution of our best reporting on San Diego,” he said.
The selection of articles from Times of San Diego is currently being updated twice a day, in the morning and afternoon.
