Facebook News launches; some publishers paid, others not

Facebook is testing Facebook News with a subset of people in the U.S. The service provides stories from hundreds of news organizations. Some news organizations have deals with Facebook to be paid for their content, people in the know on the plan say, The Washington Post reports.

Among those to be paid are Dow Jones and Bloomberg. Among those who don’t have deals are The Associated Press and Reuters, according to the Financial Times.

The content will be curated by a combination of a human team and computer algorithms.

Organizations that are participating include The Washington Post, Business Insider, BuzzFeed News and numerous local sources, the Post said. The New York Times will probably be on board, the Post said, but the paper’s deal is not yet done.

During the initial test, Facebook will showcase local original reporting by surfacing local publications from the largest metro areas across the country, beginning with New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Houston, Washington D.C., Miami, Atlanta and Boston, Facebook said in its post announcing the news tab launch.

In the coming months, the social media giant will include local news from Today In, Facebook’s local news and community information tab, which recently expanded to over 6,000 U.S. towns and cities. 

“We are concerned that anything less than a fully comprehensive solution could put some publishers that are already struggling at a distinct disadvantage,” wrote News Media Alliance President and CEO David Chavern about the launch. “So, while it’s a good start, currently it is far from a comprehensive solution.”

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