“Three years ago people said it would never work,” said Beheshti. “Now they’re saying this is how people are consuming the news, and we need to get on the bandwagon.”
The News Movement, and Caliber more broadly, embraced from the beginning many of the creator-inspired editorial tactics now sweeping through traditional newsrooms. As other publishers race to adopt techniques popularized by social creators, such as front-facing vertical video and lo-fi podcast video, The News Movement finds itself with a head start in the scramble.
“Honestly, it’s possibly where the industry could—or even should—be heading, especially given the decline in visibility on search,” said Enders Analysis senior analyst Abi Watson.
A new umbrella brand
The decision to reposition The News Movement under a broader corporate umbrella comes as the company pursues global expansion.
The new structure better reflects the reality of the business, according to Beheshti, who co-founded the startup alongside Will Lewis. In November 2023, Lewis left the company to join The Washington Post as chief executive.
The planned launch of SaySo is also critical to the expansion of Caliber, making the rebrand a practical move as well, according to Watson.
“If The News Movement launches SaySo under The News Movement’s aegis, they risk confusion around what SaySo is as a product,” Watson said. “Repositioning under a holding company makes it easier to sell across the portfolio without diluting TNM’s identity.”
The app will present users with personalized content in whatever form they prefer, such as video, audio, or text, based on their historical behavior. It will be invitation-only, but Caliber will not screen creators based on political orientation. Instead, it will provide them with basic newsgathering training and ensure they employ the practices.
“SaySo is a news app for a social generation,” Beheshti said. “It’s like AppleNews+ but for creators. The idea is to create an atmosphere for audiences to get information from sources they trust, and we verify that they are not trying to spread misinformation.”
The company is experimenting with different monetization models for the creators, including subscriptions, feature unlocks such as commenting or chatting with creators, and usage-based fees. The majority of revenue will go back to creators.
Caliber is not the first media company to experiment with this concept. Vice unveiled something similar, called Story Studio, in 2020, and earlier this week Condé Nast announced Vette, its new creator storefront. Other creator-first platforms have also emerged in recent years, according to Watson.
“[Streaming platform] Nebula is an example of how this model can work—a subscription service built by creators for creators,” she said. “Whether there’s enough demand for a news-focused app alone is another question.”
