Facebook to fund original news shows from ABC, CNN, others
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Facebook logo at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., in March. Facebook says it will fund exclusive news shows created for its Watch video section by publishers such as ABC, CNN and Mic.
NEW YORK >> Facebook says it will fund original news shows created by such news organizations as ABC, CNN, Fox, Univision and Mic.
The move comes as Facebook plans to kill off its “trending” news section to make way for what it considers “trustworthy” and “informative” news. Despite efforts to clamp down, the company continues to grapple with fake news and misinformation, not to mention plain old “click bait” on its users’ news feeds.
Campbell Brown, Facebook’s head of news partnerships, says the shows will be original and exclusive to Facebook, rather than adapting TV programs from elsewhere for a Facebook audience. The shows will appear in Facebook’s Watch video section.
Brown declined to say how much Facebook is paying for the shows. They will be available in the U.S. this summer.
