Facebook has hired former NBC News and CNN anchor Campbell Brown as the head of its news partnership team, as it steps up its efforts to combat the hysteria over “fake news.”
“This month I will be joining Facebook to lead its News Partnerships team. This is a different role for me, but one where I will be tapping my newsroom experience to help news organizations and journalists work more closely and more effectively with Facebook,” Brown wrote on her Facebook page.
“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. That also means making sure there is ongoing feedback from publishers as Facebook develops new products and tools for news organizations,” she continued.
Brown has been involved in a number of causes since leaving CNN in 2010, primarily in education reform. In 2014, she founded the non-profit organization Partnership for Educational Justice, which is generally critical of the actions of teachers unions. She also serves on the board of the International Women’s Media Foundation, which promotes the role of women in the media.
She is also married to Dan Senor, who advised Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. However, the pair were both involved in the anti-Trump movement.
When Facebook advertised for the role, the company said were looking for an “experienced news executive [who] will be a public-facing voice of Facebook and its role in the news ecosystem.”
As head of Facebook’s news partnership team, Brown will oversee the forging of Facebook’s partnerships from preferred media organisations, whose news coverage will consequently be promoted by the site.
Brown will also manage Facebook’s efforts to combat “fake news,” as the company prepares to fact check news stories with the aid of partisan fact checkers such as ABC News, Politifact, and Snopes. If a story is deemed to be fake, Facebook will consequently mark it with a red flag to warn users the source might not be credible.
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