In an attempt to heal its relationship with European publishers, Google has announced a digital partnership with eight European publishers, under which the tech giant has agreed to give €150m funding over three years.
The search giant will hold discussions with publishers to come up with ways to boost their revenue, traffic and audience engagement using ads, apps, paywalls and analytics data.
It is also planning to provide digital skills training to journalists and aid in research to help companies figure out techniques to crowdsource information.
The Financial Times, The Guardian, Spain’s El Pais and Germany’s Die Zeit have decided to back Google’s initiative, and the company reportedly hopes other publishers will soon join the initiative.
The Guardian cited Google strategic relationships head Carlo D’Asaro Biondo as saying: "The internet offers huge opportunities for the creation and dissemination of great journalism.
"But there are also legitimate questions about how high quality journalism can be sustained in the digital age.
"Through the Digital News Initiative, Google will work hand in hand with news publishers and journalism organisations to help develop more sustainable models for news."
Google has been facing a tough time in Europe, as it has been accused of abusing its power in online search and unfair bundling of Android apps.
The search giant previously agreed to set up similar scheme to help French media organisations after the media outlets lashed out on Google for showing headlines and text culled from their sites.
