Channel 4 News is partnering with Facebook’s video service to produce a weekly news show in an effort to “increase the visibility and reach of high-quality sources of news” on social media platforms.
Launching in the new year, Uncovered will see Channel 4 News correspondents go behind the headlines for an in-depth analysis of global stories that often go unreported, focusing on a single international issue in each ten-minute episode, the broadcaster said.
Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear said: “When the credibility of news is being constantly challenged, never has it been more important to increase the visibility and reach of high-quality sources of news across social network platforms.
“That is why we are excited to work with Facebook Watch, bringing together compelling content on a platform that connects audiences with timely and reliable news videos, produced by serious news organisations and being properly funded.”
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Uncovered will create “hard-hitting” and “revelatory” original content made exclusively for Facebook Watch in a made-for-mobile vertical format.
The series is one of Facebook’s funded news shows, which means the social platform pays Channel 4 News and other partner publishers to provide exclusive content for Watch.
Facebook previously said in a statement that the publishers have full editorial control of their shows, and that it would work closely with them to experiment with different formats and discover what works best.
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Shelley Venus, Facebook’s video lead for news partnership said: “Channel 4 News has a proven track record for engaging their audiences with investigative reporting.
“I look forward to seeing how Uncovered highlights unreported international issues in a mobile-first format and shows people what else is happening in the world.”
In June Facebook created a dedicated section for “high quality and timely news content” within Facebook Watch and announced its first funded news shows from a number of US news publishers including ABC News, CNN and Fox News.
Facebook Watch was expanded globally in August, a year after its US launch, and BBC News became the first non-US publisher to announce a funded news show for the service in September.
BBC News will launch Cut Through The Noise, a weekly news show aimed at US audiences, by the end of this year.
The series, which is also made-for-mobile and will tackle a single issue each week, will be presented by BBC News journalists from its Washington DC bureau or from the field and “offer expertise from around the world on a broad range of issues that matter to US audiences”.
In a statement released in September, BBC Global News chief executive Jim Egan said: “Social media is an important source of news and information for many Americans, so we are always looking for new ways of bringing our audiences high quality, non-partisan news coverage they can trust from around the world.”
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