Facebook to Invest in Local News

Facebook is planning to invest $300 million in local news over the next three years to a variety of initiatives and organizations.

Vice President of Global News Partnerships Campbell Brown has explained in a blog post that why Facebook is focusing on local news specifically. He said that people are more interested in local news and they want to see more local news on Facebook too. Other than that, local newsrooms are looking for more support.

Facebook to Invest in Local News

Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president of Global News Partnerships also said in a statement:

“We’re going to continue fighting fake news, misinformation, and low-quality news on Facebook, But we also have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to help local news organizations grow and thrive.”

The investments by the company will go into two broad areas. The one is to support journalists. The other one is to support newsrooms in the news-gathering process and help them to build sustainable business models. The company seems more serious to invest in local news.

Pulitzer Center founder and executive director Jon Sawyer appreciated this step taken by Facebook. He said that we are thankful for Facebook’s commitment that it will help us to meet today’s journalism challenges, especially in smaller cities.