Updated / Thursday, 29 Apr 2021
16:09
The move is part of Facebook s answer to the trend of email newsletters
Facebook has said it will give $5 million to pay local journalists in multi-year deals, as part of its new publishing platform to help independent writers attract an audience and make money through the social media network.
The move is part of Facebook s answer to the trend of email newsletters, led by platforms like Substack, as it focuses on reporters who are often the lone voice covering a given community, the company has said.
The publishing platform, which Facebook announced last month, will be integrated with Facebook Pages and include a free self-publishing tool for journalists to send out newsletters or create their own website.
Article content
Facebook Inc said Thursday it will give $5 million to pay local journalists in multi-year deals as part of its new publishing platform to help independent writers attract an audience and make money through the social media network.
The move is part of Facebook’s answer to the trend of email newsletters, led by platforms like Substack, as it focuses on reporters “who are often the lone voice covering a given community,” the company has said.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or Facebook to pay $5M to local U.S. journalists in newsletter push Back to video
By Sheila Dang
April 29 (Reuters) - Facebook Inc on Thursday said it will give $5 million to pay local journalists in multiyear deals as part of its new publishing platform to help independent writers attract an audience and make money through the social media network.
The move is part of Facebook s answer to the trend of email newsletters, led by platforms like Substack, as it focuses on reporters who are often the lone voice covering a given community, the company has said.
The publishing platform, which Facebook announced last month, will be integrated with Facebook Pages and include a free self-publishing tool for journalists to send out newsletters or create their own website.
Observers are left to wonder: Why are so many journalists jumping ship at a flagship newspaper in a major metropolitan area like Phoenix?
The answer, according to some current and former staffers, is multi-faceted. Some employees have moved on to jobs at other media outlets, including top-tier publications: reporter Angel Mendoza is now a social media editor for the
Washington Post, for example, and education reporter Lily Altavena went to the
Detroit Free Press. Why others left the paper isn t as clear. Insiders cite factors such as low pay, burnout, a toxic work environment created by the paper s executive editor, Greg Burton, gender and race-based pay disparities, and management s allegedly superficial commitment to diversifying its staff and supporting women and people of color in the newsroom.
Published April 29, 2021
Andrew Hutchinson
Content and Social Media Manager
After it shared initial details of its coming newsletter platform last month, Facebook has now confirmed the first elements of the new project, which will see the company pay out $5 million in funding to local journalists in order to kickstart the product, and generate initial interest.
As reported by Reuters, Facebook s new funding will come in the form of multi-year deals with established writers to essentially showcase its newsletter platform, and expand interest.
As per Reuters: Independent journalists in the United States can apply to the program beginning on Thursday, and priority will be given to reporters who plan to cover “Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian or other audiences of color,” in locations that lack an existing news source, Facebook said.