Facebook offers millions to Dow Jones, Bloomberg, but nothing to Reuters and AP

Facebook has offered millions to Dow Jones and Bloomberg to put its content on its new news page, but hasn’t offered money to rival wire services Reuters and the Associate Press, reports Anna Nicolau and Alex Barker of the Financial Times.

Nicolau and Barker report, “The social media giant has offered no money to Reuters or Associated Press, according to people close to the discussions — arguing that wire services do not qualify despite offering seven-figure deals to rivals Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

“The news page, which Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said will feature ‘high-quality’ journalism, is part of Facebook’s efforts to clean up its image after coming under fire in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election for enabling the spread of fake news.

“Mr Zuckerberg and Robert Thomson, chief executive of Dow Jones owner News Corp, are set to introduce the service on Friday.

“Media outlets such as Condé Nast, BuzzFeed and Dow Jones publications including the Wall Street Journal have agreed to participate in the project, according to people familiar with the matter, in deals in the low millions of dollars. Facebook is still in talks with Reuters and the New York Times.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.