The Conversation (website)
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Type of site
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Analysis, Commentary, Research, News |
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| Available in | English, French |
| Founded | April 2010 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
| Owner | The Conversation Trust |
| Key people |
Andrew Jaspan (Editor) Lisa Watts (Chief Operating Officer) Misha Ketchell (Managing Editor) |
| Employees | 60 |
| Slogan(s) | "Academic rigour, journalistic flair" |
| Website | theconversation |
| Alexa rank |
 10,867 (As of March 2016[update]) |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | March 24, 2011 |
| Current status | Active |
| ISSN | 2201-5639 |
The Conversation is an independent, not-for-profit media outlet that uses content sourced from the academic and research community. Since the Australian website's launch in March 2011, it has expanded into six editions, with the addition of a United Kingdom (UK) version in 2013, the United States (US) in 2014, Africa in May 2015, France in September 2015, and Global in September 2016.The Conversation's "global network", as it was described by editor-in-chief Andrew Jaspan, publishes all content under a Creative Commons license and, as of October 2016, reports a monthly online audience of 3.7 million users onsite, and a reach of 35 million through creative commons republication.
The operating company The Conversation Media Group is a not-for-profit educational charity owned by The Conversation Trust. The Conversation is funded by the university and research sector, government and business.
Jaspan first discussed the concept of the Conversation with Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor at The University of Melbourne, while editing The Age between 2004 and 2008. Shortly after Jaspan left The Age, he was invited by Davis to review the university’s engagement with the public through its various knowledge transfer initiatives. Jaspan’s report recommended a new approach, whereby the university would communicate directly to the public through a news and commentary website. Jaspan envisioned the university as "a giant newsroom", with the academics and researchers collectively providing authoritative and informed content that engaged with the news cycle and major current affairs issues.
In February 2009, Jaspan was introduced to Jack Rejtman, who had arrived in Melbourne from Los Angeles, US, where he led product strategy for the "US 2008 Election" website at Yahoo! News. Jaspan discussed his newsroom concept with Rejtman, who was supportive. Jaspan and Rejtman met with Davis again in May 2009, with a proposal to extend the original concept beyond Melbourne University to include the broader research sector. After Davis expressed support for the extended concept, Jaspan introduced the idea to Chris Brown, a corporate finance specialist, who later became chairman of The Conversation Trust.
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