Funds from this grant provide two years of administrative and operational support for the business and economics desk of the Conversation U.S., an experimental new platform in journalism.  Based on similar efforts already successfully launched in the United Kingdom and Australia, the Conversation U.S. is an experiment in direct journalism, providing a platform where researchers and experts write public-facing news and analysis pieces themselves, published under their own bylines, which are then edited in collaboration with experienced journalists for clarity and objectivity.  Content produced by the Conversation is released to the public free of intellectual property restrictions and it encourages other sites—even “competitor” news sites—to reuse and repurpose its content.  The project represents a promising response to changing economic prospects in the news industry and facilitates more direct communication between researchers and the public.