Editor’s note: This is the first in a series we’re doing featuring local publishers using Google News Showcase. Thanks to the three Argentinian publishers who shared their thoughts and insight on the impact that News Showcase is providing for their coverage. In the coming months we’ll have more from local News Showcase news partners around the globe.
ADIRA, The Asociación de Diarios del Interior de la República Argentina, is a regional press association that brings together newspaper publishers throughout Argentina. Many of our partner publications have worked with Google over the years, through Google News Initiative, trainings and now nearly 50 of them are a part of Google News Showcase. Google’s efforts have been important in helping our journalism reach and develop stronger relationships with readers and diversify our revenue.
The transition from print to digital for newspapers outside the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires is slow and difficult, where smaller papers can’t generally afford to hire the necessary tech professionals to make digital changes needed to reach readers. But it has been easy for smaller publications to use News Showcase, helping them reach new audiences.
News Showcase, alongside Google’s other product efforts and programming from the Google News Initiative, has great potential to grow and deepen reader relationships for newsrooms in Argentina through new ways to highlight stories, greater control over showcasing our brand and additional tools for paywalled content.
Here is how three local ADIRA publications — El Litoral, La Opinión de Rafaela and La Gaceta — are using News Showcase to expand their digital strategies and build relationships with readers.
El Litoral
Magalí Suarez, Content Coordinator at El Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina
Founded in 1918, El Litoral is a regional newspaper in Santa Fe, Argentina, producing several supplements, specialized magazines, a second provincial newspaper, a TV channel and more.
News Showcase came at a critical time for all media, especially for those of us who are strongly betting on digital growth. Even in the middle of an unprecedented health and economic crisis, we’ve continued to produce quality content for our readers. News Showcase allows us to “package” our journalists’ content, provide context to the information and offer readers more tools so they can inform themselves around stories responsibly.
Overall News Showcase has allowed us to improve engagement by including related news, create panels that better position our stories/content for our target audience, highlight the journalism that distinguishes us from other news organizations and give our readers a way to get information and context in an easy, organized way.
We think News Showcase has helped us to solve complex challenges such as how to better engage with readers in a crowded news environment. This is a very good start in laying the foundations for sustainability in the future.
