Facebook to Add Video News Section Ahead of 2018 Midterm Elections

Facebook is preparing to add a video news section to its Watch tab later this year, TheWrap has confirmed.

The social network is looking to partner with about 10 publishers to create native news content, with a rollout set for this summer. News clips will be at least three-minutes long and will be featured within a dedicated tab on Watch. Axios was first to report the story on Tuesday morning.

“Timely news video is the latest step in our strategy to make targeted investments in new types of programming on Facebook Watch,” Campbell Brown, Facebook’s global head of news partnerships, said in a statement to TheWrap. “As part of our broader effort to support quality news on Facebook, we plan to meet with a wide-range of potential partners to develop, learn and innovate on news programming tailored to succeed in a social environment. Our early conversations have been encouraging, and we’re excited about the possibilities ahead.”

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The move comes as Facebook has been recalibrating its approach to news. Earlier this year, Facebook shifted its News Feed algorithm to feature more local stories. “There’s too much sensationalism, misinformation and polarization in the world today,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post announcing the decision. Facebook is looking to “prioritize news that is trustworthy, informative, and local,” added Zuckerberg. To this point, short-form reality shows, rather than hard news, have been the backbone of Facebook Watch.

Facebook has been under fire for its inability to weed out misinformation — some funded by Kremlin-tied agents — before and after the 2016 presidential election. More than 100 million Americans were hit with fake news on the platform, the company admitted to Congress last fall. By launching this summer, Facebook-approved news clips will be in circulation by the 2018 midterm elections.

6 Tech Giants Shaking Up News, From Jeff Bezos to Laurene Powell Jobs (Photos)

Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.
Jeff Bezos – Washington Post

The Amazon founder purchased the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. President Trump has called the paper the “Amazon Washington Post.”

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Chris Hughes - The New Republic

The Facebook co-founder purchased The New Republic in 2012, becoming executive chairman and publisher. However, he sold the venerable political magazine to Win McCormack in 2016, saying he "underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate."

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Pierre Omidyar - The Intercept

The eBay founder is a well-known philanthropist who created First Look Media, a journalism venture behind The Intercept. Inspired by Edward Snowden's leaks. Omidyar teamed up with journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras to launch the website “dedicated to the kind of reporting those disclosures required: fearless, adversarial journalism.”

Also Read: Former Intercept Journalist Arrested for Bomb Threats on Jewish Sites
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Peter Thiel

The PayPal co-founder doesn’t own a news organization, but he makes this list because he essentially ended one -- Gawker -- proving once again the power of an angry billionaire. Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit against Gawker Media because he was upset that the website once outed him as gay. Hogan won the defamation lawsuit against the site that sent its parent company into bankruptcy, and Gawker.com is no longer operating.

Also Read: Gawker Media to Sell Flagship Site, Hulk Hogan to Receive 45 Percent of Proceeds
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Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook

OK, so Facebook isn’t technically a news organization… yet. However, the company is preparing to launch its much-anticipated lineup of original content later this summer, and there are also signs that it's on the verge of becoming an even bigger media platform.

Campbell Brown, Head of News Partnerships at Facebook, confirmed last week it’s developing a subscription service for publishers willing to post articles directly to Facebook Instant Articles, rather than their native websites.

Also Read: 3 Ways Facebook Can Jump Into the News Business
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Tech is increasingly intertwined with news, for better or worse

Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.

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6 Tech Giants Shaking Up News, From Jeff Bezos to Laurene Powell Jobs (Photos)

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