Facebook Hires Campbell Brown for News Role

By Steven Perlberg

Facebook has hired a former journalist to bolster its often rocky relationship with the news media.

Campbell Brown, a former CNN prime-time host, is joining Facebook to lead its News Partnerships unit, which works with media companies that publish content on the social media site.

"I will be working directly with our partners to help them understand how Facebook can expand the reach of their journalism, and contribute value to their businesses," Ms. Brown wrote in a Facebook post.

Facebook's role in the media world has come under scrutiny. The company faced renewed pressure after the election to fight the spread of misinformation on its platform. After first largely dismissing the notion that "fake news" on Facebook played a role in the election, the company has recently outlined new steps to avoid the proliferation of misinformation, like labeling certain stories as false and working alongside fact-checking groups.

Increasingly, people are turning to Facebook as a primary destination for their news and information, which has further boosted the social network's advertising business. News organizations, in turn, have come to rely more and more on Facebook as a platform for distributing their content. Many publishers use Facebook's Instant Articles program to post stories directly to Facebook, and then share in advertising revenue with the social giant.

Media companies have seen fast growth with Facebook video, though how they will generate revenue from that large audience is still largely unclear. Facebook has also paid media companies millions of dollars to experiment with its live-streaming product, Facebook Live.

The hire of Ms. Brown may be viewed in the media world as a surprising choice. Ms. Brown, who previously worked at NBC News, left CNN in 2010. In recent years, she has become a controversial education-reform activist.

In 2015, Ms. Brown launched The 74, a nonprofit, education-focused news site. In a note on the site Friday, Ms. Brown said that she will be stepping back from her editorial role there, but will remain on the board.

This isn't the first time Facebook has made a hire from the journalism world. The company in 2014 tapped former Wall Street Journal editor Liz Heron to work with news organizations (she has since left the company). Ms. Brown's role is more senior, according to a person familiar with the matter.

"Right now we are watching a massive transformation take place in the news business -- both in the way people consume news and in the way reporters disseminate news. Facebook is a major part of this transformation," Ms. Brown wrote in her Facebook post.

Write to Steven Perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 06, 2017 14:29 ET (19:29 GMT)

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