Google is updating one of its most popular online website as well as apps, Google News, with a section called ‘Beyond the Headlines’ that will feature in-depth articles on issues such as healthcare, education and environment, among others.
The company aims to bring more attention to investigative long-form pieces that “highlights and explores key issues in our society”.
The feature is currently being rolled out to news.google.com on desktop globally and will be seen on the right side of the website. Currently, only US English is supported, but the company plans to roll out more languages as well as a mobile version of the site with the feature embedded in 2020.
“With Beyond the Headlines in Google News, we want to recognise publishers that are investing in diving deeper into the headlines and moving past the who, what and when to explore the why and how,” Google explains. “Keeping these stories visible beyond the fast daily news cycle, Beyond the Headlines connects readers with in-depth articles exploring important issues such as healthcare, the environment, education and more.”
The stories featured in Google News’ beyond the headline section will also be accompanied by the estimated read-time to help the readers understand how long the story might take to complete on an average.
In addition to this update, Google has also announced that it is upgrading Android messaging with RCS in USA, which will enable users to chat and send media like high-resolution images and videos over WiFi or mobile data. Users will also be able to see if the recipients have received the messages.
Also, Google Search will now assist users in learning the pronunciation of words in different languages, among a few other visual upgrades to search elements. You can read more about it in our story here.
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