Facebook Inc. is close to announcing a first crop of news shows for its video platform Watch that will likely include content from Fox News and CNN, capping months of turbulent talks and several strategy shifts by the social-media company, people familiar with the matter said.
The news programs being negotiated, which would be financed by Facebook and run exclusively on the platform, include one from Fox News hosted by Shepard Smith, some of the people said. A few of the shows could be announced as early as next week and will officially launch in July, other people said.
Facebook has been negotiating with a number of big-name media companies and digital upstarts to provide news programming, part of its broader push to help reliable information drown out fabricated articles and rumors on the platform.
The company has been under pressure since the 2016 election to stamp out misinformation on its site. Executives faced combative questions at the company’s annual meeting Thursday on several issues, including fake accounts, data privacy and fabricated news articles.
Also popular on WSJ.com: