Twitter and Bloomberg Media are joining hands in what is claimed to be the first-ever 24/7 breaking news network.
Bringing together the editorial prowess of Bloomberg with the digital reach and capabilities of Twitter, the new live streaming news network hopes to become one of the world’s fastest and primary news distribution channels.
“This is a great opportunity to extend our global news gathering capabilities to Twitter’s 328 million monthly users,” said Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait.
“Combining the journalism, data and editorial rigor of Bloomberg with the social content of Twitter will enable us to cover the world in a very new and exciting way.”
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Unveiled at Bloomberg Media’s NewFront presentation, the network is set to debut this autumn, with a line-up set to include user-generated breaking news video from citizens, curated and verified by Bloomberg editors. This will be in addition to live video and reporting from Bloomberg journalists around the world.
“The stage is set for innovation in news and Bloomberg is taking on that challenge. Twitter’s speed and vast global network of content and commentary combined with the high quality, editorial rigor of Bloomberg is a unique and powerful combination. Our collaboration will bring these forces together through live video and the related conversation,” said Anthony Noto, COO of Twitter.
The move to tap Twitter users for breaking news may draw criticism from those concerned about the spread of ‘fake news’. Only recently, world wide web inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, issued a a damning report of the way in which misinformation is spread online.
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“The current business model for many websites offers free content in exchange for personal data. Many of us agree to this – albeit often by accepting long and confusing terms and conditions documents – but fundamentally we do not mind some information being collected in exchange for free services,” said the inventor.
“The net result is that these sites show us content they think we’ll click on – meaning that misinformation, or ‘fake news’, which is surprising, shocking, or designed to appeal to our biases can spread like wildfire.”
