Reduced research time
Improved productivity (Example: assisted creation of biographies and timelines, NewsSearch is also capable of suggesting story ideas)
Increased responsiveness in news processing
Support for quality journalism
Scalability of the solution
Mediahuis used Google Cloud AI to create NewsSearch, an assistant that rapidly transforms its vast archive into a journalistic asset by providing an interactive layer for deep exploration, condensing information, and sparking new story angles.
Mediahuis used Google Cloud AI to create NewsSearch, an assistant that rapidly transforms its vast archive into a journalistic asset by providing an interactive layer for deep exploration, condensing information, and sparking new story angles.
AI to transform frustration into innovation
Our methods for accessing our archives clearly could be more efficient: Researching and finding background information for a story could take up to 30 minutes. When you're reporting news continuously, this situation is no longer tenable.
Marielle Vermeer
Chief of Data and Social, Mediahuis
Since its creation in 2014, Mediahuis has established itself as a major player in the European media landscape. Present in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, and Luxembourg, the group publishes more than 30 independent news brands, including De Standaard, NRC, De Telegraaf, and Irish Independent. Renowned for its commitment to quality journalism, Mediahuis also diversifies its activities with digital marketplaces in the domains of real estate, jobs and recruitment, automotive, and price comparison.
It is in this dynamic of innovation that the group recently developed an ambitious project with Google Cloud's AI solutions called "NewsSearch." It radically transforms the way journalists access and use the millions of articles and other information sources archived by the Group.
"The project was born from a concrete need expressed within Mediahuis' newsrooms from which Bart Janssens (Senior Project Lead, Data and AI Innovation), Lisa Schetgen (Data Scientist), Yves Van Dooren (Business partner News), and Melle Drenthe (Project Manager, Digital and Data) came up with the idea, and I really loved it. I saw high potential in this idea to make searching through the archive a lot easier and quicker," explains Marielle Vermeer, De Telegraaf's Chief of Data and Social, and through the collaboration and partnership with Google's News Partnerships team, eager to explore responsible AI use cases that might work for newsrooms. "Our methods for accessing our archives clearly lacked efficiency. For example, a simple search could take up to 30 minutes while the most complex could take more time."
The answer to this challenge had to go beyond a simple search tool. "As the person responsible for introducing AI into the newsrooms, I naturally took advantage of this opportunity to innovate," says Marielle Vermeer. To achieve this, Mediahuis took the time to reflect, organizing numerous workshops to discuss the potential of AI and the daily practices of journalists. The project thus progressed rapidly, combining technical iteration phases and regular user feedback.
Six months after the launch of the idea, NewsSearch was operational. More than just a search engine, it behaves like a true assistant capable not only of quickly finding information in the archives, but also of verifying its veracity, offering summaries, and even suggesting innovative angles for addressing topics.
Google Cloud expertise: An AI that understands journalists
"Our goal was to create a solution that integrates naturally into the workflow of journalists," explains Bart Janssens, Senior Project Lead, Data and AI Innovation at Mediahuis. "We tested many solutions but they were either limited or too rigid to meet our specific needs. Coupled with the robustness of Google Cloud's infrastructure, Vertex AI and its Gemini models provided the flexibility to develop a tailor-made solution specifically for journalists. This allowed us to fine-tune the search capabilities to meet the unique needs of newsrooms."
The technical architecture combines the Elasticsearch search engine, responsible for identifying relevant articles, with the analytical capabilities of Gemini, which offers summaries, answers to journalists' questions, and suggestions for editorial angles. "Beyond Google Cloud's rich and adaptable ecosystem, Google Cloud distinguished itself by its investment in our project," emphasizes Bart Janssens. "The proximity and availability of the teams, not to mention direct access to experts, played a decisive role in our success."
When you combine a powerful language model like Gemini with a lot of content and the creativity of journalists, the only limit is the imagination of the journalist as NewsSearch handles questions outside of the initial scope. In that sense Gemini proves to be very flexible at handling different requests from journalists.
Bart Janssens
Senior Project Lead, Data and AI Innovation, Mediahuis
Concrete benefits: Speed and editorial quality
In a few months, NewsSearch had been developed and had already changed the daily work of some colleagues in the newsroom. "The time it takes to find information has been drastically reduced: what sometimes took hours is now done in a few seconds or minutes in the best case scenarios," says Marielle Vermeer. "Freed from these tedious and time-consuming investigations, some of our journalists are more productive and can devote more time to value-added tasks."
The impact goes far beyond time savings, as Bart Janssens points out: "Ideal for helping young journalists fill their lack of experience and history, NewsSearch also allows more experienced colleagues to be more responsive. It also offers new perspectives by suggesting original angles on topics, which is a valuable aid in a context where standing out is essential. In other words, NewsSearch is a valuable asset to help us keep our commitment to quality journalism."
Our collaboration with Google Cloud exemplifies how cutting-edge AI technology can be seamlessly integrated through the combined expertise of our technical teams and journalists. Overall journalists are now able to interact with the news archive in a completely different way. Instead of doing the search and digesting all the information themselves, they now have an assistant doing the heavy lifting for them. The information can be trusted as it is based on their own news articles and not on something found on the internet. Having such an assistant means a lot of time can be saved and journalists can focus on what they do best: writing compelling news stories.
Bart Janssens
Senior Project Lead, Data and AI Innovation, Mediahuis
New horizons for NewsSearch
Encouraged by the success of NewsSearch in its first pilot newsrooms, Mediahuis now plans to extend the solution to other publications in the group starting next year.
"We are convinced that this collaboration with Google Cloud positions us as a key player in the digital transition of journalism," concludes Bart Janssens. "By capitalizing on Google Cloud's advanced AI technologies and its robust infrastructure that frees us from scaling issues, we also demonstrate that innovation and journalistic rigor can not only coexist but also reinforce each other. With AI as a companion, our journalists are opening a new era in the press."
A European media group founded in 2014, Mediahuis operates in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, and Luxembourg. It publishes more than 30 independent news brands, such as De Standaard, NRC, De Telegraaf, and Irish Independent, and also operates a number of important digital marketplaces. The group is recognized for its commitment to independent, quality journalism, contributing positively to society.
Industry: Press and Media
Location: The Netherlands, Belgium
Products: Gemini APIs, Vertex AI, Cloud Run, App Engine, Firestore, ElasticSearch
About Google Cloud partner - ML6
ML6 is an AI consulting company that helps businesses implement artificial intelligence solutions. They offer a range of services, from strategy and development to production and scaling. ML6 specializes in autonomous AI, generative AI, and AI governance.