Google has today announced plans to shine a light on local news reporting with the introduction of a new “Local Source” tag in Google News.
Above: Local Source
The Internet giant has long appended articles in Google News with additional data to help users home in on the best and most relevant articles — for example it may tag an article as “In-Depth” in the search results for those seeking more substantial coverage. Now, it looks as though Google News is seeking to appease regional publications that have struggled to compete with the major media companies online by highlighting the original sources of local stories that subsequently become national or international talking points.
“Local news publishers play a critical role in covering the stories that impact us every day in our cities, schools and neighborhoods,” said James Morehead, product manager at Google News, in a blog post. “Local reporters are often members of the communities they serve, bringing additional context and perspective to a story.”
With neighborhood newspapers and local bloggers often doing much of the spadework to unearth a scoop of much wider importance, this can often become buried under the might of national broadcasters and global media outlets. Appending “Local Source” to a Google News result may be a minor fix to that problem, but it at least gives those who are seeking a local perspective on a major story an easier route to doing so.
Google says that Local Source articles are highlighted automatically through analyzing where a publisher has written about historically, and comparing it to details relevant to a current news story’s location. The new feature is live now globally across Google News.