Facebook‘s 100 Million Grant
Facebook has committed $100 million in financing and advertising spending. It will be for the support of news organizations and local publishers weakened by the pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a much-needed cash infusion to help news outlets at this critical time for the local news industry.
The bulk has gone to the print media as many advertisers pulled their marketing budgets to control costs. L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican’s 160-year-old newspaper has suspended printing last week. It was just one of the print publishers struggling to operate in safe conditions amid the virus outbreak.
Facebook reported it has donated $25 million in emergency grant funding for local media. The company has also given $75 million in marketing spend for news organizations globally.
According to social network, the first round of its grants went to 50 local newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada. First recipients include The Post and Courier in South Carolina, the Southeast Missourian, and El Paso Matters in Texas.
The technology giant’s new COVID-19 Community Network grant program debuted two weeks ago. The new grants will be made through this program.
Facebook’s Pledge Announcements
The social media company has announced in early 2019 its granting of a total of $300 million. The amount of grant was for news programs, partnerships, and content over the next three years.
The news industry and FB have had a rocky relationship over the latter’s “taking away” of ad revenue. Moreover, modern technology FB’s algorithm changes had dramatically affected how newsrooms got web traffic.
The efforts were meant to show FB’s support for quality journalism. The company said local news in particular is important to building community on its platform.
The company has also announced two weeks ago new efforts to help support newsrooms and fact-checkers to promote quality information on COVID-19.
It will donate $1 million to local newsrooms to help them cover the crisis. It will give another $1 million to fact-checkers’ efforts reviewing news coverage for virus misinformation.
It is in Facebook’s best interest to to invest in news, particularly at the local level. Other tech and media companies are also donating millions of dollars at journalism and small businesses initiatives.
Technology news reported on Friday Google is donating $800 million in cash and ads to fight the pandemic. Yelp said last week it will give $25 million to help local businesses survive COVID-19 impact, via free ad space.
Netflix is giving a $100 million relief fund to help members of the creative community struggling from the crisis. WarnerMedia says it’s committing more than $100 million to support film and production crews being shut out.
Furthermore Apple has pledged $15 million to medical and economic relief efforts.
Twitter said Tuesday that it’s donating $500,000 each to the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Women’s Media Foundation to support newsrooms while covering the novel coronavirus.
