A 3D plastic representation of the Facebook logo in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, May 13, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
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MARCH 1 (Reuters) – Facebook (FB.O) on Monday struck deals with a series of German media partners to provide content for local news products. dismissed as mockery.
Described as “a place dedicated to journalistic content,” Facebook News features reports from the heavyweight weekly magazines Die Zeit and Der Spiegel, as well as dailies including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Handelsblatt and Tagesspiegel.
“Part of our user base wants to read more news,” Jesper Doub, Facebook’s director of news partnerships in Europe, told reporters.
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But Axel Springer, the publisher backed by private equity firm KKR (KKR.N), which publishes tabloid Bild and conservative broadsheet Die Welt, said it would not participate.
“The attempt by some platforms to position themselves as news media and to defraud publishers with insufficient compensation is problematic,” said an Axel Springer spokesperson.
Springer said he hopes to rely on European copyright rules that allow all publishers to receive their fair share of compensation.
Broadside comes on the heels of an unprecedented week-long blackout of news by Facebook for Australian users over a law requiring technology platforms to pay traditional news publishers to display their content.
Facebook agreed to restore its Australian news page after making concessions in law, including a mechanism to bring disputes to arbitration.
It has since said it will invest $1 billion in news over the next three years.read more
Doub added that Facebook News is already live in the US and UK and will soon be available in France.
He did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership to help Facebook News launch in Germany. Facebook News includes fashion, automotive and sports publishers, as well as several regional newspaper partners.
Stefan Ottlitz, Managing Director of Spiegel Group, said in a statement: “We are excited to work closely with platforms such as Facebook to experiment with new ways to reach our readers with quality journalism.
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Reporting by Nadine Schimroszik; Authoring by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Timothy Heritage
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
