News Blog
The official blog from the team at Google News
Looking Backward: Nominating a new Justice
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Posted by Ryan Sands, Google News Online Team
A few minutes ago, the United States Senate voted 68-31 in favor of confirming Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the newest addition to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor's confirmation followed three days of debate on the Senate floor, and was preceded by a series of lengthy and widely-reported confirmation hearings in July. A simple search for [
Sotomayor
] on Google News yields articles from thousands of sources covering this developing story.
Judge Sotomayor will soon become part of an elite group of Americans, as the 111th Justice to serve on the Court. The process by which new Justices are vetted and confirmed for this powerful body has long been a subject of intense media interest. As history was being made this week, I took a look back using News Archive Search's Timeline view for the term [
supreme court confirmation
]. While browsing the archives, common threads in media coverage of Supreme Court Justice confirmation hearings jumped out at me. I've included some articles below from the last 75 years of Supreme Court History.
These materials were made browsable via our
News Archive Partner Program
. You can easily click the navigation toolbar to zoom in and out on an article, or fit the entire newspaper page in your browsing window.
Click on each image or link to view an article in its original context:
Morning Star - Jul 23, 1993
St. Petersburg Times - Aug 13, 1937
The Deseret News. - Jul 5, 1987
Eugene Register-Guard - Mar 21, 1939
Pardon Our Dust: Temporary Issues with Webmaster Tools
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Posted by Abe Epton, Publisher Support Team
Google News publishers have long made use of
Webmaster Tools
to submit and update their News sitemaps, as well as learn more about how Google is crawling their site. Recently, the Webmaster Tools site underwent a
major makeover
designed to make it easier for publishers to use. As part of this process, Google News is working to improve our interaction with Webmaster Tools and help news publishers take advantage of some of WMT's helpful new features.
Unfortunately, this also means that there are currently a few issues that publishers are seeing. We wanted to let you know what they were, and reassure you that we're working on them. While there may be some sawdust and loose nails lying around at the moment, it won't be long before a sturdy new edifice has been completed, and we think publishers will agree that the hard work will have been worth it. For the moment, however:
Webmaster Tools may report an incorrect "Last downloaded" date for News sitemaps, display a strange number of articles indexed, or display a News sitemap as "Pending" (
) even though Google News is already crawling the sitemap. The best way to determine if we're crawling a sitemap or not is to check your server logs for Googlebot.
From time to time, it may become necessary to resubmit your sitemap (for example, if the Type switches from News to Web). In order to do so, don't click the "Resubmit" button at the bottom of your sitemap list; instead, click the "Submit a Sitemap" link, select Google News from the Type dropdown box, and give us your sitemap's URL.
We apologize for the inconvenience these issues may be causing you. We're working hard to improve the sitemap submission experience, and think you'll be pleased with the results.
Extra! Extra! Updates from our growing newspaper archives
Monday, August 3, 2009
Posted by Ryan Sands, Google News Online Team
Last September on this blog,
we announced
a new initiative to digitize newspapers and make them accessible and searchable online.
We've recently updated our index, quadrupling the number of articles included in News Archive Search. We now include articles from several new publications, including the
Halifax Gazette
,
Sydney Morning Herald
, the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
, and the
Village Voice
. Working with our partners, we've also added new international publications such as the
Manila Standard
,
The Nation
from Thailand, and many others.
Looking for a place to start exploring this rich historical index? How about the complete
June 2, 1753 edition
of the Halifax Gazette, one of the oldest newspapers we've digitized to date.
News Archive Search is an ongoing effort, and we're continuing to work with publishers to add new materials. You can explore this historical treasure trove by searching on
News Archive Search
or by using the timeline feature after searching on
Google News
.
Working with News Publishers
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Posted by Josh Cohen, Senior Business Product Manager
We're constantly talking with web publishers, including those in the news industry, about how their content is indexed by search engines. Last week in Europe, a group of newspaper and magazine publishers signed a
declaration
stating that "Universal access to websites does not necessarily mean access at no cost," and that they "no longer wish to be forced to give away property without having granted permission." We agree, and that's how things stand today.
More than 25,000 news organizations across the globe choose to make their content available in Google News and other web search engines. They do so because they want their work to be found and read -- Google delivers more than a billion consumer visits to newspaper web sites each month. If at any point a web publisher feels as though we're not delivering value to them and wants us to stop indexing their content, they're able to do so quickly and effectively. To read more on this issue, see our post on the
European Public Policy blog
.
Looking Backward: Happy anniversary, Walkman!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Posted by Ryan Sands, Google News Online Team
Thirty years ago this week, Sony introduced the first Walkman to consumers in Japan. Released on July 1, 1979, the model TPS-L2 was the first in a long history of portable stereo devices. The shape, size, and data format of portable music players continues to evolve, but for many people my age the
Sony Walkman
was their first music device.
As a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s, my Sony Walkman cassette player was my most prized possession, and an important part of my identity. My first tapes were Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream and MC Hammer's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. While my little iPod shuffle can easily hold dozens of cassettes' worth of songs, it's hard to imagine developing the same degree of affection that I held for my first Walkman.
On this 30th anniversary of it's release, I took a look back using News archive search's Timeline view for the term [
walkman
], focusing on articles from the United States in the 1980s. These materials were made browsable via our
News Archive Partner Program
. You can easily click the navigation toolbar to zoom in and out on an article, or fit the entire newspaper page in your browsing window.
Click on each image or link to view an article in its original context:
The Milwaukee Sentinel - Jun 24, 1983
The Spokesman-Review - Aug 15, 1982
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Jul 16, 1982
The Age - Dec 3, 1981
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Aug 1, 2004
For folks looking for more information from the early days of the Walkman, I found some the following magazine articles in Google Books, including
a review
in the September 1981 issue of Popular Science and
this ad
in the February 1984 issue.
A Call to News Publishers: How to Share Your Video
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Posted by Olivia Ma, YouTube News Manager
We're always looking for ways to enhance the way people consume the news, and we have some improvements planned over the next few months. To get things started, Google News and YouTube are teaming up to help news publishers build a bigger audience for their video content.
Today we are inviting any professional news outlet that is already included as one of the 25,000+ sources in Google News to become an official partner on YouTube and more easily share your news videos on both YouTube and Google News. Not already included in Google News? Just
submit your site
here for review.
Here are some of the benefits for News publishers who join the YouTube Partner Program:
Featured Premium Placement. YouTube news partners receive featured placement on the
YouTube news page
, youtube.com/news, where we feature news videos from partners related to the top news stories on Google News. In addition, if you allow your videos to be embedded, they'll be eligible to appear on Google News, which means additional exposure to all Google News users.
Cut Costs, Generate Revenue. YouTube offers free hosting for all of your video content and allows you to embed your videos anywhere on the web for free. And as an official YouTube partner, you're eligible to participate in an advertising revenue share program.
Viewership Analysis. Learn more about the people viewing and interacting with your videos. Use YouTube's Insight tool to easily discover troves of useful demographic information and understand what parts of your videos people liked or didn't like. Geographic information provided can help you focus your marketing efforts.
Wider Audience. YouTube and Google News have millions of visitors every day searching for the latest news and information. Raise awareness around your brand and reach new audiences by making your video content available on YouTube and Google News. As a YouTube partner, you can maintain your brand's look-and-feel with your own customized YouTube channel, and you can also drive traffic back to your own website.
Community. At its core, YouTube is a rich social environment that includes thousands of micro-communities. Build one around your content by encouraging people to interact through comments and video responses. Take advantage of YouTube as a social platform.
To get started, apply to the
YouTube Partner Program
. Don't forget to include the website of your news organization in the "Company Web Site" field on your application form -- this is critical to having your application approved. If you don't already have a YouTube account, make sure to use an email address with the same domain as your website (e.g. johndoe@newswebsite.com) when registering.
Once your application has been reviewed, you will receive an email confirming whether you are included in the YouTube Partner Program. If you are included, you will have the option to participate in revenue sharing and customize your branded channel.
The Google News team will do a separate review and follow-up about including your videos in Google News.
For more details on becoming a YouTube partner, please visit our
Partner Benefits page
. For a more in-depth explanation of submitting your video content for inclusion on Google News, take a look at our
Help Center article: Video and other multimedia content
. Please submit any questions through our
Help Center
.
Search by Author on Google News
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Posted by Nemanja Petrovic, Research Engineer
The Google News home page is a good place to go to find headlines from publications around the world. But what if you're interested in the work of a specific journalist in addition to perspectives from different publications? Last Thursday, we launched a feature that highlights the contributions of journalists everywhere by allowing you to find more articles by individual reporters.
If you spot an article by a specific journalist, you can click their name to bring up other articles they've written:
You can also search for articles by a specific journalist under
Advanced Search
or by searching their name after "author:" in the Google News search box. For example, this feature allows you to follow the most recent stories by your favorite columnists or local journalists. Here I searched for content by Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly:
As with any search on Google News, you can sign up to get the latest results through an RSS feed or email alerts.
We're constantly working to increase the ways in which you can interact with the news, and we hope you'll like the new ability to search by author. With over 25,000 news sources crawled on Google News, we value the diversity of perspectives on the news, but there's also something to be said for being able to find and follow the voices of the journalists you like best!
Google News gets a makeover
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Posted by Frank Harris and Jason Morrow, User Experience Designers
Last month marked the 7-year anniversary of Google News. We thought we'd celebrate this year by refreshing the look and feel of the site with a new design that we launched today.
First of all, you'll probably notice that we've included new color frames around each section on the homepage. We've also added YouTube logos to our existing embedded
news videos
, helping you to identify and discover our partners' video content more easily:
We also updated our section pages, categories like "Top Stories," "World," and "Business," to add featured videos and photos from our partners. The new pages also contain sections for images and for popular stories on the right side of the screen, below the featured photos and videos. Just as with the
new story landing page
we launched last Thursday, our goal is to highlight more sources and provide our users with more ways to experience the news.
For example, take a look at the entertainment section below:
As with all features we introduce to Google News, these changes are designed to provide a better news browsing experience and connect you to a wide variety of perspectives on current events.
More ways to see the story
Monday, May 11, 2009
Posted by David Ganzhorn and Corrie Scalisi, Software Engineers
Last Thursday we launched a new format for story pages on Google News. These are the pages you see when you click the "all [#] news articles" link of each cluster of articles which cover the same news event--or "story," as we say on the Google News team.
The story page includes timely and relevant information from different sources indexed in Google News. Depending on the most recent coverage and materials available for a given story, the page features top articles, quotes from the people in the story, and posts from news blogs. You'll also find image thumbnails, videos, articles from sources based near the story, and a
timeline
of articles to trace media coverage of the story.
For instance, take a look at the LA Lakers' win over the Houston Rockets in the NBA Playoffs above. When you click through to the story page, you can see a quote by Lakers Point Guard Derek Fisher reflecting on the game, a set of images from the game, and reactions to the game on different news blogs. For those of you interested in the reaction on the ground, you'll also find local articles on the game written in Los Angeles and Houston:
As always, clicking on any article or image will take you right to the original source, while clicking on a partner video link opens up the video in a small window on the page.
Google News has always sought to provide you with a wide variety of perspectives on current events. Our new story page enables us to highlight more sources and provide our users with more ways to experience the news. As always, we're working to improve our product, and we appreciate
your feedback
.
Looking Backward: A historical perspective on influenza
Monday, May 4, 2009
Posted by Ryan Sands, Google News Online Team
In the past few weeks, media outlets have exploded with stories about the growing number of cases of influenza A(H1N1). Also known as Swine Flu, the illness is being watched closely by governments and people around the world. Looking back through the archives of Google News, parallels to the current media climate jump out immediately from previous worldwide influenza outbreaks, in 1957 and again in 1968.
But the worst all influenza outbreak on record was the infamous global pandemic of 1918, which raged until 1920 and ended up claiming millions of lives around the world. I decided to take a long view on the cycle of illness and media coverage, using News archive search's Timeline view for the term
influenza
to focus in on articles from the United States in 1918. These materials were made browsable via our
News Archive Partner Program
.
Click on each image or link to view an article in its original context:
From the
November 28, 1918 edition of The Deseret News
From the
September 14, 1918 edition of The St. Petersburg Times
From the
March 23, 1920 edition of The Deseret News
From the
February 21, 1920 edition of The Toronto World
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