The Conversation is a network of nonprofit media outlets publishing news stories and research reports online, with accompanying expert opinion [unbiased definition needed] and analysis.

[1][2] Articles are written by academics and researchers under a Creative Commons license, allowing reuse without modification.

[8][9] Jaspan first discussed the concept of The Conversation in 2009 with Glyn Davis, vice chancellor at the University of Melbourne.

Jaspan and Rejtman were provided support by Melbourne University in mid-2009 that allowed time to incubate the business model.

[1][additional citation(s) needed] In March 2017, Andrew Jaspan resigned as executive director and editor, six months after being placed on enforced leave after complaints from senior staff in Melbourne about his management style and the global direction of the group.

[19][20] Management of the UK, U.S., and Africa offices also wrote a letter of no confidence to the Conversation Media Group asking that Jaspan not have an active role in the future.

[15][25] The Conversation's core staff then edits these articles, ensuring a balance between reader accessibility and academic rigour.

[35] The Conversation uses a custom publishing and content management system built in Ruby on Rails.

[48] Across the whole network, stories commissioned by The Conversation are now republished in 90 countries, in 23 languages, and read more than 40m times a month.

[55] The Canadian edition of The Conversation was co-founded on 26 June 2017 by Alfred Hermida and Mary Lynn Young, associate professors in the field of journalism at the University of British Columbia.

Launch funding was partly provided in the form of a $200,000 grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

[55] Andrew Jaspan secured seed funding to develop the case to launch The Conversation into the UK in 2012.

[60] Membership grew to more than 80 universities in the UK and Europe, including Cambridge, Oxford, and Trinity College Dublin.

Thomas Fiedler, then dean of the School of Communications at Boston University, offered to host The Conversation U.S. and provide space for the first newsroom.

The U.S. edition of The Conversation was first published on 21 October 2014,[63] initially led by Jaspan as U.S. CEO, Margaret Drain as editor, and Bruce Wilson leading development and university relations.

[65] In January 2024, the U.S. site launched a local-news focused outlet that opened in four markets: Detroit, South Florida, Colorado and Philadelphia.

Articles originally published in The Conversation have received republication on a regular basis by major news outlets.