Facebook may add a separate news tab for quality journalism

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, has said in an interview with a German journalist and publisher that he may eventually add a separate section within Facebook that will be entirely devoted to “high-quality news”.

In the conversation with Mathias Döpfner, the director of major German publisher Axel Springer, Zuckerberg indicated that there might be a separate section on Facebook for ‘users who want to take in more news’. Zuckerberg says that he also mainly wants to support local journalism. He did not clarify whether this new part will actually be introduced and if so, when. Recode reports that a source has indicated that Facebook wants the news tab ready before the end of this year.

This new feature will be free to users, with Zuckerberg saying Facebook “potentially partnered directly with publishers to make their content available, but only if it’s high-quality content.” This probably means that Facebook will pay the publishers via a licensing model, but it could also be that they receive a larger part of the advertising revenue, for example.

Many details about the new section with high-quality news articles are still missing. For example, Zuckerberg is not yet sure whether Facebook should make a selection or whether it gives users the opportunity to choose and read what they want. Facebook is considering hiring a team of people to manage its news section; the company itself will not hire journalists to produce news.