The New Hybrid Journalist: Independent Operators, Big Media Reach

Tech reporter Joanna Stern had considered leaving the Wall Street Journal, her journalistic home for more than a decade, and striking out on her own for some time. There were risks she wanted to keep in mind — loneliness among them — so she wrote some fears on stickers and posted them in her home office. 

But after taking the leap last month to launch her new company, New Things, Stern struck a deal weeks later with another national newsroom — one that provides the independence she craved with the stability and reach of a major media outlet. Stern and NBC News announced a partnership that makes her the network’s chief tech analyst even as she builds her own venture. 

“I saw this as an opportunity to really reach an amazing mainstream audience [in] a time where people need tech guidance more than ever,” Stern told TheWrap in an interview alongside NBC News President Rebecca Blumenstein. Indeed, Stern gets the opportunity to tap into NBC News’ monthly audience of 140 million — across its broadcast, digital and streaming platforms — to grow her own audience (12,000 YouTube subscribers, 180,000 X followers), while the network nabs a leading voice on consumer tech. 

The NBC-Stern arrangement speaks to a new model for journalists exploring alternative career paths in a changing media landscape, one that may provide editorial independence with institutional support. The Athletic last year added Pablo Torre and his hit podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” to its network last year, forging a relationship with the independent sports journalist who has also become a regular on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” Earlier this week, Scott MacFarlane, who left CBS News a few weeks ago, announced a new role as MeidasTouch’s chief Washington correspondent, allowing him to tap into the progressive media company’s network to grow his own platforms, driving his YouTube subscriber count from 43,000 to more than 100,000.

While some marquee journalists have stretched their entrepreneurial wings as they pursue an independent lane and others remain entrenched in traditional newsrooms, this hybrid model provides a way for reporters to grow their personal audiences while capitalizing on the resources — and reach — a national newsroom can provide, as well as minimizing risk. The journalists likely to seize on such opportunities are authorities on their beats with strong followings, especially as newsrooms seek subject matter experts amid the rise of AI content. 

“They’ve got to decide what level of risk they want to take, and with some people, having that side deal helps,” veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher, who has deals with both Vox Media and CNN, told TheWrap. “They might do it for marketing reasons. They might do it for extra money reasons. They might do it for safety reasons, and so everyone’s got to sort of pick and choose how much they want to do by themselves and how much they want just a little bit of help.”

Tapping into expertise

The model puts Stern everywhere across NBC News’ platforms, from its broadcast shows to its streaming platforms. 

She made her first on-air appearance on Tuesday’s “Today,” where she walked through common misconceptions surrounding AI. She’ll launch a new network franchise, “AI in America,” and also contribute investigative stories and explainers. That work is in addition to her beehiiv-backed newsletter “New Things,” which she’s set to launch this spring with her independent company.

Stern, who considers her approach to covering tech about helping and guiding people “through the lens of the consumer,” said one of the most daunting prospects was building a video business from scratch. NBC’s yearslong experience with video eased her fears and, combined with her trust in Blumenstein, who hired her at the Journal, made the network stand out among several she spoke to about a partnership.

“She changed my life once. When she hired me there, she knew about what I wanted to do here, and wanted to do something different,” Stern said. “If you don’t have trust on both sides of what you possibly can do, it’s going to be a little bit harder to go at it.”

Blumenstein told TheWrap their partnership was a “unique” model for the network, one built on “a fundamental expertise, a humanity and also a sense of humor that’s very unique.” While the network is open to similar partnerships with other independent journalists, “the bar is high,” Blumenstein said. (NBC does pay Stern, though the two sides declined to discuss any monetary arrangement, such as revenue sharing; Stern confirmed she would own her “New Things” newsletter.)

“We want people who can bring expertise, credibility and audience and, of course, alignment with our standards,” she said. “So we’ll do it when the fit is right.”

The new model

Such qualities — expertise, credibility, audience — are what media companies desire in forging relationships with independent journalists. 

In Torre’s case, his show — which he co-owns with Meadowlark Media, a studio launched in 2021 by former ESPN president ​​and radio host Dan Le Batard —was licensed to the New York Times-owned Athletic last year in a reported seven-figure deal. 

The deal allows Torre to partner with an established brand like the Times and the Athletic to produce “fun and nourishing” sports journalism, Torre said in the deal’s announcement last year. Meanwhile, the Athletic taps into Torre’s audience — 228,000 YouTube subscribers, more than 287,000 X followers — without the need for a marketing campaign, its chief commercial officer, Sebastian Tomich, told Bloomberg last year. 

“This is the single best way for us to go out and reach millions of more sports fans,” Tomich said. “Absent us unlocking many millions in a giant brand campaign, developing new shows and series like that with Pablo is the best way.”

Earlier this week, MacFarlane framed teaming up with MeidasTouch as an “inevitable marriage” of their news-hungry audiences in an interview with Deadline. MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas told TheWrap that MacFarlane, who is paid by MeidasTouch, will own his own intellectual property as he appears across the network’s programming, letting him tap into the progressive media company’s digital audience of roughly 6.2 million YouTube subscribers and 1.3 million X followers while growing his own audience base (114,000 YouTube subscribers, 366,000 X followers).

“It’s about connecting with audiences and having that relationship, and ensuring that their voice can get out there and can reach the largest possible engaged audiences who are hungry for news,” Meiselas said on why these deals are surging.

MacFarlane, a veteran broadcaster, told TheWrap he is also producing free reports for three radio stations on Washington news tailored for their local markets — WTOP in D.C., WTMJ in Milwaukee, and KNX in Los Angeles — that maintains his long-term relationship with the radio stations even in his role as an independent journalist.

“I think local radio needs all the support you get because of the economics of it all,” he said. 

Laying the groundwork

Swisher has deftly navigated a media industry in flux, with experience at legacy outlets (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times), startups (as co-founder of Vox Media’s Recode), television and podcasting. She has a deal with Vox Media, which distributes her podcasts, including “On with Kara Swisher” and “Pivot,” for which Vox takes 30% of the profits, and is a contributor — for now — at CNN. 

Swisher said she partnered with both companies to tap into what they do best, such as Vox Media’s expertise in advertising for her shows and CNN’s strength in producing original series. For her upcoming CNN Original, “Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever,” she said she could have raised the money for the show herself in order to own the series and license it to the network, but she was more interested in just making the show itself and learning how one gets made, even if it meant CNN owned it. Though after learning that, she said her next show may end up on YouTube, “because then I’ll own all of it.”

Such partnerships, Swisher said, allow journalists to build skills they may lack as they forge their own path forward: “It doesn’t work so well if you’re trying to make content and run a business.”

Swisher said she encouraged Stern for years to leave the Journal, and she thinks both NBC and Stern can benefit from the arrangement since their interests are aligned. It gives Stern the flexibility to expand her independent presence and test new ideas in ways she may not have been able to at the Journal, Swisher said, while NBC reaps the benefits of her expertise.

“She wants a bigger audience for whatever she does independently, they want an expert who’s fantastic. They could have just hired her,” she said. “She’s now got incentive to be amazing compared to a regular employee. It doesn’t mean employees can’t be great, but she’s got extra incentive because it’s hers.”

“It sort of works for everybody — if it works,” she added. “If it doesn’t work, you can cut it loose pretty quickly, and bygones. Which is also great. I love bygones.”

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