FB follows Google to support journalism

WASHINGTON: Facebook announced on Tuesday that it will invest $300 million over three years to support journalism, with an emphasis on promoting hard-hit local news organisations.

The move, on the heels of a similar initiative by Google last year, comes with online platforms dominating the internet advertising ecosystem, making it harder for legacy news organisations to make a transition to digital.

"People want more local news, and local newsrooms are looking for more support," Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president in charge of global news partnerships, said in a blog post. "That’s why today, we’re announcing an expanded effort around local news in the years ahead."

In the US, social media has overtaken print newspapers as a news source for Americans, according to a survey released last year by the Pew Research Centre. The survey report found 20 percent of US adults say they often get news via social media, compared with 16 percent from newspapers. Facebook, which has been criticized for enabling manipulation of its news feed, has consistently said it does not want to be considered a media organisation that makes editorial decisions but wants to support journalism and efforts to fight misinformation.

It has funded fact-checking projects around the world, including one in partnership with AFP. The move by Facebook follows the Google News Initiative unveiled last year by the US internet search giant. Ken Paulson, a former USA Today chief editor who heads the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, said the Facebook initiative was "a great move."