Facebook Could Pay Publishers For News Content

[engine]

Mark Zuckerberg talks about how it may end up paying for quality journalism for news content. You'll find a link to the full video below.

We talked about the role quality journalism plays in building informed communities and the principles Facebook should use for building a news tab to surface more high quality news, including the business model and ecosystem to support it. We also discussed the privacy-focused vision I laid out for the future of social networking and the four ideas for internet regulation I published this weekend.

[facebook.com...]

[topr8]

Obviously fake news is a massive problem for facebook and others.

I am concerned though that this will lead to some chosen news sources being the favoured ones (even if they are paid for) as this could also lead to just as much bias - we all know that the same news story can be presented and emphasised in very different ways ... leading to very different conclusions.

[engine]

That's true, topr8. I'd like to think that it'll attempt to provide a range of resources, rather than just one. You know how this works, of course: there are, for example, a dozen newsources, of which we are aware that some represent different sectors on the spectrum. We choose to visit and read our chosen sources. The problem is which source does FB choose!

[topr8]

absolutely, i'm sure they will chose a range of sources ... however of course all the chosen sources could have the same bias!

and you are right, as people we tend to favour the news sources that fit in with our own outlook and there is often no absolute right or wrong to any particular piece of news.

i think most intelligent people realise that their own favoured news source tends to be somewhat biased and although they like that bias, they should take the stories with a pinch of salt ... but the point is we can choose it.

the thought of facebook - which has a magnitude more eyeballs than any newspaper/news-website/tv-station could hope for - chosing what news its users see, is concerning.