Facebook’s new head of news partnerships will be Campbell Brown, the founding editor in chief of a nonprofit educational news site.
Brown, who was previously a journalist for CNN and NBC News, will be “working directly with (Facebook’s) partners to help them understand how Facebook can expand the reach of their journalism, and contribute value to their businesses,” she wrote on Facebook Friday.
Brown founded The Seventy Four, a non-profit, non-partisan news site dedicated to coverage of U.S. education.
Brown will bring to the job sensibilities honed during a journalism career that has been “the most defining part of my professional life,” she wrote. In her new role, she hopes to help news organizations navigate “massive transformation…in the way people consume news and in the way reporters disseminate news.”
I grew up in journalism. It has been the most defining part of my professional life. Throughout my career my mentors were all great journalists. Covering the news with honesty and integrity is something that matters deeply to me, and I have always felt that journalism is more than just a job.
Facebook’s previous marquee hires in the realm of news include Liz Heron (the former executive editor of The Huffington Post) and Dan Fletcher, the former Time journalist who founded Beacon Reader.
Benjamin Mullin is the managing editor of Poynter.org. He previously reported for Poynter as a staff writer, Google Journalism Fellow and Naughton Fellow, covering journalism innovation, business practices and ethics. He’s also reported for USA TODAY College and The Sacramento Bee, and he was editor in chief of The Orion, Chico State’s student-run newspaper. An Air Force brat who grew up around Northern California, he’s still adjusting to the Florida sunshine.
