Facebook has invited fire over the past year for its participation in the propagation of 'fake news' - a perspective that is confided by some that it may have helped Donald Trump towards victory in president election - and its hesitancy to address some of its responsibilities as a giant media platform. Still it appears that the company's newly employed 'Head of News' won't be contributing to any of the actual decisions about such things.
Fortune reported that former NBC and CNN anchor Campbell Brown declared and self has been named to the new designation of head of news partnerships at the giant social network, a job that has been subject to much of speculation ever since it was opened.
The fact that Facebook has selected a former TV journalist isn't astonishing, given the network's interest in growing its video operations. It has been a hectic rolling out for Facebook Live streaming service, that was introduced last year, and in some cases it has been paying publishers including Fortune owner Time Inc. to produce live video.
"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," Brown says.
Brown will be restructuring bridges between news media and the social networking site.
Guardian reported that some critics argue that the appointment is an effort to impress news organizations at a time when there were questions of relationship with own powerful enemy.
Jessica Rovello, CEO of Arkadium, that works on tools to help publishers to hold readers on websites, portrayed the hire as 'window-dressing on the larger problem'.
"It doesn't move them in the direction of solving their fake news issue. The role seems to be to placate the publishers whose lunch they're eating."
News organizations have growing trust on Facebook, that has 1.79 billion users, as a marketing and distribution channel. Alternatively, Facebook calls for superior quality of content to keep its users entertained and informed, that in turn produces advertising revenue for the platform.