Facebook is trying to bridge the gap between media and the popular social network platform.
Despite CEO Mark Zuckerberg's reluctance to completely call Facebook a media company, it seems like it is inching its way to becoming one with the announcement of the Facebook Journalism Project.
The Facebook Journalism Project was introduced by Director of Product Fidji Simo last Wednesday through a Facebook post. Simo explained that the company intends to do its part in helping everyone have "meaningful conversations" and "to be informed".
The New York Times reported that the Journalism Project is meant to be a way to deepen and strengthen the ties between the company and the news industry.
The Journalism Project's three major objectives are to collaborate the development of news products before they are released, help train and provide tools such as CrowdTangle to journalists and do the same for everyone outside the field of media, as well.
Facebook's new endeavor also aims to improve community relations through local news, promote news literacy, and prevent news hoaxes from spreading, among other things.
The Journalism Project will start off with partners The Washington Post and Vox Media in the next few weeks before but has reached out to other potential partners.
Facebook and Zuckerberg came under fire lately after people started pointing fingers at the social network platform for spreading fake news especially regarding the past U.S. Presidential Election. The company, upon acknowledging that false news were indeed spread through Facebook, started to find ways to prevent such things from happening once more. The Journalism Project is one of those solutions. The company has also reached out to other groups to find solutions to the proliferation of fake news on the site.
While this move is taken in a positive light, the company's recent plan to include a censorship tool once China officials finally approve Facebook's re-entry to the country is against what it is trying to promote with the Journalism Project.
