Facebook is looking toward a different sort of celebrity talent to lead its latest spate of new Watch series—journalists.
The social network/media company recently invested in BuzzFeed News’s Profile, an interview series hosted by NPR’s Audie Cornish of All Things Considered. Facebook Watch will also become home to the biweekly series Mic Dispatch, a news coverage show to be hosted by journalist Natasha Del Toro, according to The Hollywood Reporter, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Profile interviews will feature big names in entertainment, politics, technology, and business, writes Variety. BuzzFeed told the publication that the show will premiere “in the coming weeks” but did not provide a specific date. It will be produced by Tracey Eyers of NBC‘s Talk Stoop, BuzzFeed News’s head of programming Cindy Vanegas-Gesuale, and the company’s VP of news and programming Shani Hilton. BuzzFeed’s other Facebook Watch series include Night In/Night Out starring Ned Fulmer of the Try Guys, Puppy Prep, and Quinta vs. Everything.
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“I’m thrilled to be working with BuzzFeed News and Facebook Watch on a show that reflects the current news cycle and is relevant for an audience eager to hear from the biggest names in the world,” Cornish said in a statement, in which she also hinted at the possibility of “breaking some news” in the new series.
In Mic Dispatch, which will debut on Facebook Watch later this month, Del Toro will cover two stories per episode that focus on cultural movements and the current political climate. Other Mic team members will contribute to the show, including senior writer Aaron Morrison, senior style editor Evan Ross Katz, and co-founder Jake Horowitz, according to THR.
Del Toro currently works as an investigative reporter on the joint HBO/Fusion series Outpost. She is a Fulbright Scholar who’s taught and researched in Medellin, Colombia and previously hosted a series on PBS. Cornish, meanwhile, has been a reporter at NPR since 2006. Before that, she reported at WBUR (Boston’s NPR news station) and the Boston bureau of the Associated Press.
Both of these additions to Facebook Watch’s lineup are part of a trend in which the social/media company is creating and funding journalistic programming. Shows from CNN, ABC News, Univision, and Fox News are also heading to the platform, in part so Facebook can show its commitment toward real (as opposed to fake) news in the large wake of the 2016 presidential election. This is in addition to moves like shrinking the size of false news stories as they appear on the platform and buying an AI startup to help identify false reporting.
