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Facebook plans to invest $300 million in local news sources

Facebook plans to invest $300 million in local news sources

Facebook is in the process of planning a large investment towards local news over the next three years.

An estimated $300 million is expected to be put towards a number of initiatives and organisations.

According to Facebook vice president of global news partnerships Campbell Brown, the investment will be going into two broad areas. These areas cover supporting journalists and newsrooms in the newsgathering process, and helping them build sustainable business models.

Big investment

The full breakdown of these areas includes multiple $1m investments in the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, Local Media Association and the American Journalism Project.

Other notable investments include a $5m donation to the Pulitzer Center, a $6m injection to the Community News Project, and $20m to expand Facebook's Accelerator Program.

"Over time, we think this work can have the added benefit of fostering civic engagement, which research suggests is directly correlated with people’s reading of local news,"  Brown said. 

Pulitzer Center founder and executive director Jon Sawyer added: “we are grateful for Facebook’s commitment to helping us meet the challenges of today’s journalism, especially in smaller cities where the survival of news outlets depends on new models of reporting and community engagement,”

“We also applaud Facebook’s commitment to the editorial independence that is absolutely essential to our success.”


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Staff Writer