Facebook To Invest $300 Million Into Local ‘Journalism’ Initiatives

Word has it Facebook is investing millions of dollars– $300 million, to be exact– into local “journalism” initiatives.

What could possibly go wrong?

Facebook says it’s investing $300 million over the next three years in local news programs, partnerships and other initiatives. The money will go toward reporting grants for local newsrooms, expanding Facebook’s program to help local newsrooms with subscription business models and investing in nonprofits aimed at supporting local news.

Raise your hand if you think it’s a good idea for Facebook to crawl in and stick its nose all up in the journalism biz– which already sucks, BTW. *sees no hands*

Campbell Brown, Facebook’s head of global news partnerships, acknowledges the company “can’t uninvent the internet,” but said it wants to work with publishers to help them succeed on and off the social network.

“The industry is going through a massive transition that has been underway for a long time,” she said. “None of us have quite figured out ultimately what the future of journalism is going to look like, but we want to be part of helping find a solution.”

Every time Facebook has tried to “help” in the journalism department, it has directly or indirectly hurt right-leaning news outlets. We all know why Facebook really wants to get in on this. It wants to monopolize the news. It wants to decide what’s “fake” and what’s not. It’s just cloaking this under a cheerful “let’s find a solution together” act.

The $300 million investment includes a $5 million grant to the nonprofit Pulitzer Center to launch “Bringing Stories Home,” a fund that will provide local U.S. newsrooms with reporting grants to support coverage of local issues. There’s also a $2 million investment in Report for America as part of a partnership aiming to place 1,000 journalists in local newsrooms across the country over the next five years.

Facebook is a valuable tool for news outlets. No doubt. It just sucks how Facebook has taken on a non-objective role. The company tries to fake it, but we all know the truth.

Modern day journalism is so messed up.

h/t CBS News