Facebook News now official, to pay publishers 'millions of dollars'

Social media Facebook has anunced launch of Facebook News, which will pay news organisation for news helines -- reportedly millions of dollars in some cases, as expected. Facebook News will be available to users in form of a separate 'News Tab' in Facebook mobile app. It will display helines from news publishers like Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Business Insider, USA Today and Los Angeles Times, among ors. Apart from global helines, local stories from major US cities and smaller towns will also be available in 'News' tab.

Facebook News: How it works

Tapping on those helines will take you directly to publisher websites or apps (depending on whatever you have installed on your phone). This has been a long-requested initiative from publishers. But what does it means for Facebook as a platform? Well, this is potentially a big step for Facebook that has long struggled with both stamping out misinformation and making nice with struggling purveyors of news. Though media watchers remain sceptical that Facebook is really committed to helping sustain news industry.

Facebook did t reveal what all publications are getting paid and how much, saying only that it will be paying "a range of publishers for access to all of ir content." Just last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he wasn't sure it "makes sense " to pay news outlets for ir material.

"Journalism plays a critical role in our democracy. When news is deeply-reported and well-sourced it gives people information y can rely on. When it’s t, we lose an essential tool for making good decisions," Facebook said in its anuncement. People want and benefit from personalised experiences on Facebook, but we kw re is reporting that transcends individual experience. We want to support both.

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Last year, Facebook killed its previous effort to curate news, Trending topics after conservatives complained about political bias, leing Facebook to fire its human editors and automate section until it began recycling false stories, after which social giant shut it down entirely.

Facebook said a small team of "seasoned" journalists it employs would choose helines for "Today's Story" section of tab, designed to "catch you up" on day's news. rest of news section will be populated with stories algorithmically based on users' interests.

(With AP inputs)