Spotify has launched new multimedia format Spotlight, that offers news and political coverage, in addition to adding visual elements to podcasts. BuzzFeed, which will produce a daily four to seven minute newscast, is one of eight companies producing programming for the new feature. Spotlight is initially only rolling out to U.S. users.
Facebook began tests in the U.S. this week prioritizing news from “publications that the community rates as trustworthy,” as part of an ongoing effort to reduce fake news and clickbait. Users can still decide which stories appear at the top of News Feed with the See First feature. For publishers, the move means publications deemed trustworthy by users may see an increase in their distribution, while publications that do not score highly could see a decrease.
HuffPost U.S. is ending its unpaid contributor platform, while HuffPost Canada’s blogging platform will continue unchanged. Editor-in-chief Andree Lau says HuffPost Canada has always differed from its American counterpart in that a team of editors assesses and edits what will be published on a case-by-case basis. In cutting the contributor platform, HuffPost U.S. will add an Opinion section featuring guests columnists and writers, and a Personal section focused on first-person essays, features and Q&A’s with newsmakers, to be written by HuffPost staff.
