Talk back: Tech deal promotes conversations between journalists and those who follow their stories

NEW YORK — Environmentalist Christine Holland closely follows journalist Tiffany Higgins' stories from the Amazon River region, frequently sending her comments and questions. This week, Higgins responded to one message about her piece on the Brazilian arts community by sending Holland a lengthy personal video.

They've turned the usual one-way conversation between a journalist and consumer into a two-way one, and a deal announced Friday indicates that is much more likely to be happening in the future.

The New York-based news company Noosphere signed a multiyear licensing agreement with British broadcaster Sky News to make available its technology that facilitates such connections through an app. Sky immediately announced that it would begin experimenting with its usage for its defense and security experts, promising “a dedicated experience expressly designed for highly engaged audiences.”

The organizing principle of the whole thing: Give audiences access — not only to the news but to those who report it.

Talking to other companies about similar deals

Noosphere's founder, former war correspondent Jane Ferguson, said she's been talking with some U.S.-based news companies about similar deals.

“Getting the endorsement of the industry is really special for us,” she said. “It has been a long time coming for them to be ready for this level of a change.”

Ferguson's 2-year-old company hosts some two dozen journalists — among them former NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd and former CNN journalist Chris Cillizza — working almost like independent contractors. They specialize in a more personal style of reportage from all over the world, and part of that is making themselves available to people who follow their work.

Holland, a retired marketing executive from Menlo Park, Calif., said she's corresponded with Higgins several times, often through text messages in the Noosphere app. She feels it brings a personal stake to the stories, more like the journalist is talking to them with their work. For years, a common complaint about television news is that it feels like they're telling stories from “on high.”

“With this, I am much more inclined to remain loyal” to the journalist and news outlet, she said.

That's likely music to the ears of news executives who spend countless hours looking for ways to combat declining viewership or readership. The rise in journalists going independent on Substack or YouTube, some of whom offer subscribers personal access for a price, shows the appeal to consumers for the “authenticity” of feeling journalists are reporting directly to them, Ferguson said.

“It's so hard to know what is even written by a human being anymore,” Holland said. “I really appreciate that there is a real human being behind the story.”

A chance to feel more connected to the news

Mike Varga, a retired businessman who lives near Tampa, Florida, said he's accustomed to getting no response or pro forma replies when writing to news organizations or politicians. But Todd sent him a brief video “thank you” when Varga complimented him on a story about tariffs. He wrote to Ferguson after she did a story about the late British war photographer Paul Conroy, and she invited him to a focus group meeting about Noosphere.

It makes him feel more connected to a place where he turns for news. “It's kind of surprising more media organizations don't do that,” Varga said.

When a consumer subscribes to Noosphere to follow the work of a specific journalist, that person gets a part of the subscription fee in a revenue-sharing agreement. That business approach is not part of what Noosphere is selling to a broadcaster like Sky, but giving their journalists more independence might be a way to save money and “not lose them to YouTube.”

Meanwhile, some journalists in legacy media crave more independence but are frightened by going totally alone and still like the platform that a big company can offer, she said. This is a potential middle ground.

“We see a lot of appetite for deals like this,” she said. “We're very interested and looking forward to expanding into the U.S. marketplace.”

Ferguson and Sky News didn't offer financial details of their arrangement, nor has Noosphere publicly said how many subscribers it has.