Facebook Investing $300 Million In Local News Organizations
Facebook Inc. will invest $300 million into organizations focused on supporting the development of local news, the company announced on Tuesday.
Facebook shares were flat in pre-market trading Tuesday, after having gained 1.11% to $145.39 apiece on Monday.
The investment will take hold over a three-year period, and will aim to provide newsrooms in the U.S. and overseas with the resources and the know-how to improve their business models, according to a post on Facebook's media blog by Campbell Brown, its VP for Global News Partnerships.
It is unclear whether Facebook has any revenue interest in the plan, but news content is heavily shared on its platform. The company has been heavily criticized in the past for being home to inaccurate news content.
The recipients of the investment include the Pulitzer Center, Report for America, Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, the Local Media Association, and the American Journalism Project.
The first initiatives will provide resources for local reporting, teach how technology can be used for news gathering and show ways to build new products. Facebook will also help news organizations recruit and train new journalists. That part of the initiative will place 1,000 new journalists in local newsrooms over five years.
Much of the program is aimed at helping local news outlets create differentiated and branded content that can attract new advertisers and new revenue streams.
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