Google Australia has launched its News Showcase product at the tail-end of a near two-year-long journey by Australian regulators to rein in the power of the tech giant. News Showcase has been suggested by Google Australia as an alternative to the government’s impending News Media Bargaining Code, which forces the digital giants Google and Facebook to pay local media for content. Google Australia launched the product on Friday, along with a slate of local news outlets including The Canberra Times, The Illawarra Mercury, The Saturday Paper, Crikey, The New Daily, InDaily, and The Conversation. Media companies will pay Google a monthly fee to feature their stories on Showcase, which Google users can access for free. Showcase will be available across the Google News app and Discover in the next few days. “News Showcase is designed to bring value to both publishers and readers by providing a licensing program that pays …