Facebook launches £4.5m scheme to help fund local journalism

Facebook is launching a £4.5m training scheme that will pay for journalists across the country in an attempt to improve coverage of local communities.

The 80 new journalists are part of a commitment to help fund regional reporting in places that are no longer covered, Facebook said.

The scheme is the first of its kind in the world and follows efforts by companies such as Google to help support the journalism they show on their sites.

The announcement comes amid increasing criticism of Facebook’s approach to the media. As well as dealing with the fallout from a major report into Facebook’s communications strategy, the announcement was made amid mounting concern that the internet and social media giants like Facebook are not doing enough to help support local news organisations.

Facebook did not say it would make changes to its news feed algorithm, which decides what news stories show up on users’ feeds. It also is not making any changes to the way it pays for the kind of journalists the scheme will help train.

The new reporters will be trained as “community journalists” in the areas they will work, according to the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), which will ensure that they gain qualifications through the process. And they will work at local newspapers owned by publishers Newsquest, JPIMedia, Reach, Archant and the Midland News Association, all of which are taking part in the project.

Facebook’s UK head of news partnerships Nick Wrenn said the announcement was in recognition of “the important role Facebook plays in how people get their news today, and we want to do more to support local publishers”. It would aim to “encourage more reporting from towns which have lost their local newspaper and beat reporters,” he said.

The organisations behind the scheme also said they would focus on hiring a diverse set of new journalists for the scheme.

“The NCTJ cares deeply about the number, quality and diversity of journalists working in our local communities,” said NCTJ chief executive Joanne Butcher.

“We are very proud to support the sustainability of quality local journalism by overseeing the recruitment of additional local news journalists from diverse and inclusive backgrounds and by ensuring they are properly trained and qualified.”