Facing pressure from regulators and politics, Facebook and Google pledged a total of $600 million to support news outlets globally, many of which are local or regional outlets faltering in the digital age.
Thousands of media outlets have received financial and other support from fact-checking, news coverage or training, according to data from the two giants.
Some publishers are grateful for these contributions, which they describe as essential as advertising revenue declines.
However, several media analysts and news executives told Reuters that the funding, which is scheduled to run over three years, makes up almost nothing for the tens of billions of dollars lost by publishers as technology companies swallow the digital advertising market.
Google and Facebook accounted for 54 percent of US digital advertising revenue in 2020, according to market research firm eMarketer.
Some critics have described these projects, including the $300 million each by the two companies contributing to them, as a way to silence publishers’ complainants and make themselves look good.
The two companies face worldwide legal battles and claims for news content as well as antitrust lawsuits from regulators and publishers.
Emily Bell, director of Columbia’s Tao Center for Digital Journalism, said the money is essential to newsrooms in the short term, “but it’s not being spent at a level that has a lasting impact on the field, and it really doesn’t change anything.”
On the other hand, the two giant companies confirmed to Reuters that they are sincerely committed to helping local and regional outlets, and that they will continue to provide support after the expiry of the $600 million spending initiative in the coming months.
The goal of Facebook’s Journalism Project is to help publishers “really transition into and thrive in today’s digital world, where they have to find a very special audience in order to succeed,” said Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships at Facebook.
Google’s director of global partnerships, Ben Mooney, said the company is focused on “making sure there is a healthy, vibrant environment for quality journalism.”
(Reuters)
