The US tech giant Google has launched its News Showcase service in Slovenia, having signed agreements with six news organizations from the country, including the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

The service gives participating publishers more ways to engage with readers by giving them a way to curate their news through different panels that appear on Google News and Discover.

These panels, which direct readers to the full articles on publishers' websites, provide news organizations with the ability to give readers daily snapshots of what they think is important, provide more context into important news stories, and add related articles, timelines and more.

The panels also give news publishers more direct control of their presentation and branding, helping them be more visible to their dedicated readers and to those who are just discovering them, Google said.

"Journalists and news publishers play a key role in helping us understand important events as they unfold and at Google we're dedicated to supporting the reporters and publishers who work tirelessly to deliver us news," said Joško Mrndže, regional director, Google Adriatics.

Apart from the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), Google has signed agreements with the publishers of the newspapers Delo, Finance and Slovenske Novice, the news website Siol.net, and Styria Media si, which issues the news portal žurnal24.

"Our partnership with Google for News Showcase confirms the important role the STA plays in the Slovenian media market and the quality of our content," Aljoša Rehar, editor-in-chief of STA, said.

Google launched News Showcase in October 2020 and since then it has signed deals with more than 2,000 news publications around the world. The service is available in 21 countries.

The Slovenian News Showcase panels started appearing on the Google News app on Android and iOS and the web, and in Discover on iOS and Android on 8 December.