FACEBOOK AND THE Canadian Press announced today they are jointly launching the Facebook-Canadian Press News Fellowship, a one-year, $1-million program which will hire eight journalists to cover pressing issues in local communities across Canada.
The year-long positions are open to anyone, recent journalism grads or otherwise, says a Facebook Canada blog post. The Canadian Press (CP) will review applications and select the eight fellows, and the Facebook Journalism Project (FJP) will fund their salaries and the costs of administering the program.
The eight fellows will be placed in existing CP bureaus, and CP will publish their stories to its wire service, making their work available for distribution to more than 1,000 Canadian news outlets in the CP network and in both official languages. (Meaning, written-word journalism skills are the primary basis for the fellows’ work, not broadcasting.)
As part of the program, Facebook is committing to training fellows on digital skills to help them adapt their work to new platforms and audiences.
Interested applicants can apply here. Applications will be accepted until all program spots are filled.
“We appreciate the support of Facebook to help us add reporting capacity at a critical time in Canada’s history,” said Malcolm Kirk, president of The Canadian Press, on the blog post. “Canadians need trusted journalism now more than ever. Facebook’s important contribution will create valuable opportunities for eight journalists for the next year. Their reporting, guided by editors at CP, will further inform Canadians on pressing issues that are having an impact on communities across the country.”
Over the past three years, Facebook says it has invested almost $9 million in Canadian journalism and news innovation through grants and creative partnerships. In May, the social media giant helped fund the launch of Indiegraf, a network of independent news publishers working to build sustainable local news models, and in April, the FJP Community Network grant program provided 81 Canadians news organizations with grants to cover unexpected costs associated with reporting on Covid-19 in their communities.
