The move brings a grassroots element to a string of deals
announced by Facebook in Australia since the country legislated to make it and
Alphabet Inc's Google negotiate content payments to media outlets or risk
government arbitration.
Since the law took effect in February, dominant news
providers like News Corp, Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd and the Australian
Broadcasting Corp have signed deals or letters of intent with the Big Tech
players.
The deal planned by Country Press Australia (CPA) and the
tech giant would bring Facebook money closer to mastheads like The Bunyip,
circulation 8,750, and Gympie Today, circulation 4,000, since they are among
the 170 outlets represented by it.
Terms of the deal including time frame, the amount of money
and how it will be divided or spent were not disclosed in a joint statement
from CPA and Facebook. The statement said the parties had signed a letter of
intent to strike a deal only.
"This funding support will help Country Press
Australia's members build their digital businesses and reach new
audiences," said Facebook's news partnership lead for Australia and New
Zealand, Andrew Hunter.
"It's part of our continuing investment in Australian
journalism and our collaboration with the news industry to build sustainable
business models," he added.
CPA President Andrew Manuel said the Facebook funding would
"help sustain original public interest journalism in the multitude of
regional and local communities" where the body's member newspapers were
published.
Before the Australian laws were passed, Facebook and Google
campaigned against them including a move by Facebook to cut all content from
newsfeeds in the country briefly. The U.S. firms have since unveiled numerous
deals, although some smaller publishers have said they still have not been able
to get to negotiating tables. -Reuters