Coronavirus Impact On Media: Facebook Plans To Spend $100 Million To Help News Outlets Hurt By Outbreak

Social media giant Facebook plans to give $100 million to news outlets worldwide which have been financially impacted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

“Right now journalists are working under very difficult conditions to keep their communities informed, and many news organizations are struggling due to the economic impact of the outbreak,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “Local news is especially hard hit, so we're committing $25 million for emergency grant funding through the Facebook Journalism Project, and another $75 million in marketing spend to support journalists and news organizations covering the crisis."

As the virus has spread, companies have cut down on digital marketing spending, hurting news outlets that rely on advertisements for revenue. Earlier this month, the social media giant pledged $1 million to help newsrooms hurt by the virus.

The New York Times Co. said in a filing earlier this month that the newspaper has seen a drop in ad bookings due to “uncertainty and anxiety” caused by coronavirus.

“[Newspaper] advertising revenue is just getting wiped out,” Ken Doctor, a news industry analyst with Newsonomics told Buzzfeed News last week.

Other news outlets are struggling to operate in safe conditions, as the virus spreads. L’Osservatore Romano, a 160-year-old newspaper in Rome, suspended printing last week, as Italy remains a hotspot for the virus in Europe.

The coronavirus has upended industries around the world, as the pandemic has caused countries to shut down non-essential businesses to prevent it from spreading.