Will Google News’ new ‘standout’ tag encourage publishers to give one another credit?

Nieman Journalism Lab | Google News
Megan Garber asks whether Google News’ new “standout,” tag, which publishers can use to call Google News’ attention to noteworthy stories, will spur them to give credit to their competitors. Publishers haven’t had much incentive to follow Google’s previous encouragement to highlight the original source of particular stories, Garber writes. “Why tip your hat to competitors who might not, in turn, tip their hats to you? Especially when the credit (and thus the good deed) isn’t public-facing?” With this new tag, Google News will penalize publishers that promote their own work too much. And it will place more trust in publishers that point to others’ work as well as their own. “Standout’s not just about highlighting extra-good content; it’s also trying to collapse news outlets’ self-interest into the communal needs of the news ecosystem. … It’s trying to bring economic incentives (and disincentives) to the social currency of the hat-tip.”