Google News adds 55 more newspapers and publications to its Fast Flip lineup

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Google Inc. announced today that it was adding 55 publications to its Fast Flip feature, which allows readers a glimpse of articles and images from nearly 100 newspapers, magazines, blogs and other sources without the need to leave Google’s site.

With Fast Flip, Google shares some advertising revenue with publishers whose content features ads inserted by the search company. Google has said this arrangement is one way it is trying to help an industry whose bottom line has been sorely affected by the rise of the Internet and digital media.

Additions to Fast Flip include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, Huffington Post, Popular Science, Reuters, Politico and U.S. News & World Report.

‘Readers of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and the rest of our newspaper brands operate in a multimedia universe, and our goal is to ensure our content is available on the platforms they choose,’ said Marc Chase, president of Tribune Co.’s interactive division. ‘We’re always looking for new technologies to help us reach an even wider audience.’

Chase did not respond to a request for details about how much revenue Tribune stood to gain through Fast Flip. Google said the program was largely experimental at this point, but that ‘the majority’ of revenue generated through the feature would go to the publishers.

Google has been under attack by many in the newspaper industry who see the instant, free access Google grants users to news articles as undermining newspapers’ profitability. Even after years of improvements and added features, newspaper websites have not generated significant revenue.

Earlier this month, media mogul and News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch continued to rail against Google, accusing the company and other online aggregators of stealing news content, which can be expensive to produce.

Google maintains that it sends more than a billion clicks every month back to newspaper sites -- and that each click is a business opportunity from which newspapers could potentially profit.

-- David Sarno