In late January, the Shop Talk panelists discusseda proposal in Australia to make Facebook, Google, and potentially other tech companies pay media outlets for their news content. Now CNBC reports that Facebook plans to spend at least $1 billion in the news industry over the next three years.
The story said the announcement comes just days after a heated debate with the Australian government over how much Facebook should pay news publishers for content.
Facebook earlier announced deals with a number of publishers in the United Kingdom. As a result, the publishers will see their content featured in Facebook News. CNBC describes Facebook News as a dedicated section within the Facebook app that features curated and personalized news from hundreds of national, local, and lifestyle publications.
The story reported that Google also plans to spend $1 billion on news over the next three years.
Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues. This week’s program featured Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier, the students at student radio station The Dog, and the WIU chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists; Rajvee Subramanian, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.
