Stefan Mileschin

Only social media will revitalise journalism

Facebook has told media companies they will have to co-operate with the social network or die.

According to a report by The Australian, Campbell Brown, Facebook's head of news partnerships, told a group of more than 20 broadcasters and publishers that she wanted to help media companies develop sustainable business models through the platform.

"We will help you revitalise journalism ... in a few years the reverse looks like I'll be holding your hands with your dying business like in a hospice", she said.

Brown added that Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, "doesn't care about publishers but is giving me a lot of leeway and concessions to make these changes".

Facebook and Brown vehemently deny this last comment was made, referring to a transcript they have from the meeting which they are not releasing.

If Brown's comments are true, then it is starting to look like the future of news is going to be based on decisions made by corporate giants like Facebook. This could mean that non-corporate and left-wing news outlets are doomed.

Progressives' fears were partly confirmed after Facebook unveiled its first slate of news "segments" as part of its Facebook Watch initiative.

While Facebook claims its initiative is part of an effort to combat "misinformation", its first series of segments were dominated by such corporate outlets as Fox News and CNN.

https://fudzilla.com/news/46951-face...operate-or-die