“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish what’s true (and not true) online,” Google’s Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said in a blog post. “The rapid evolution of technology is challenging all institutions, including the news industry—to keep pace.”
Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, -0.39% GOOG, -0.19% called its plan the Google News Initiative, saying it will deepen its “commitment to a news industry facing dramatic shifts in how journalism is created, consumed, and paid for.”
The company said it paid $12.6 billion to its news partners and drove 10 billion clicks a month to publishers’ websites for free.
To counter fake news, it launched a “Disinfo Lab” during elections and breaking-news moments, and announced MediaWise, a project focused on improving digital-information literacy for young people, it said.
On the revenue side, it launched “Subscribe with Google,” hoping to make it easier for people to subscribe to several news outlets. Consumers “are willing to pay for digital news content,” Google said.
It also said it would use some of its machine-learning capabilities to make it easier for publishers to recognize potential subscribers and to analyze how their news is consumed.
Alphabet shares are up nearly 25% in the past 12 months, which compares with 14% gains for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.15% and an 18% increase for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. DJIA, +0.47%
Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, -0.39% GOOG, -0.19% called its plan the Google News Initiative, saying it will deepen its “commitment to a news industry facing dramatic shifts in how journalism is created, consumed, and paid for.”
The company said it paid $12.6 billion to its news partners and drove 10 billion clicks a month to publishers’ websites for free.
To counter fake news, it launched a “Disinfo Lab” during elections and breaking-news moments, and announced MediaWise, a project focused on improving digital-information literacy for young people, it said.
On the revenue side, it launched “Subscribe with Google,” hoping to make it easier for people to subscribe to several news outlets. Consumers “are willing to pay for digital news content,” Google said.
It also said it would use some of its machine-learning capabilities to make it easier for publishers to recognize potential subscribers and to analyze how their news is consumed.
Alphabet shares are up nearly 25% in the past 12 months, which compares with 14% gains for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.15% and an 18% increase for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. DJIA, +0.47%
