Facebook invests $2M in support of Asia-Pacific newsrooms

Despite the rising need of verified, trusted information through this pandemic, newsrooms are no exception to the COVID-19 crunch. Just last month in Malaysia, shut down after a 46-year run. Earlier in Thailand, announced cessation of its operations. Over in Australia, announced that it was suspending the printing of “certain titles” as the virus continues to impact their local advertising industry. 

In the face of flagging profits, and in the spirit of helping publishers address immediate and critical business needs, in grant funding, coaching, and training to support Asia-Pacific news organizations’ COVID-19 stories. The following initiatives enables media outfits to receive funding and business support:

• Redirection of a portion of the to aid more than 50 news organizations’ business operations. 
• Administration of a financial support program for news publishers in Australia and New Zealand through .
• Partnership with the (ICFJ) to offer a combination of grants, webinars, and professional mentorship.
• Launch of a virtual edition of its grant and training program to strengthen reader revenue strategies.

Journalists are also joining remote training sessions across the region. The Project has restructured WAN-IFRA’s into a five-month Newsroom and Business Transformation 2020 online curriculum. More than a thousand media professionals across the region have also joined a to learn Covid-19 coverage best practices for products.

Co-founder & CEO of Splice Media Alan Soon said, “It’s important that news orgs not only survive, but are in a stronger position when COVID-19 passes. The funds that the industry is gathering and distributing are key if we’re to build more sustainable and more relevant media next year.”

“Asian newsrooms were the first in the journalism field to feel the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” added Johanna Carrillo, ICFJ’s vice president of programs. “With this new grant from the Facebook Journalism Project, we can build on our work together helping newsrooms and publishers in the region at this difficult time.”