Google News favours mainstream media over local news media

A new study shows that Google News privileges national outlets over local ones making it more difficult for local outlets to compete with their larger national counterparts. The research found that the three most prominent national US outlets account for about one-sixth of all search results.

The narrow range of leading news outlets featured on Google marginalizes local news publishers. Fischer, Jaidka and Lelkes' findings confirm this: “Our findings suggest that Google News users are exposed to far more national news outlets than local outlets. This relationship is driven by the fact that readers who search for general policy issues are almost exclusively directed to reports by national newspapers.”

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Read more at: https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/google-news-favours-mainstream-media-even-if-it-pays-for-content-will-local-outlets-fall-further-behind/

Read full study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00954-0