How do I actually get paid?

AI licensing is live today and still small. The institutional pool is turning on next. Subscriptions are yours entirely.

Who decides who gets in?

Our editorial team, against published standards. We are building the network journalist by journalist, city by city, starting in New York.

For journalists and subject matter experts

Your work is worth more than the feed pays you.

Q: Do I have to leave Substack?

No. Newsreel is non-exclusive, we take zero percent of your subscriptions, and we link back to wherever else you publish.

Q: How much work is this?

For most contributors, close to none. We cross-post from what you already publish. Writing an original story in our formats takes about half an hour.

Newsreel is a platform where vetted journalists publish under their own names. Send us what you already write. We rebuild it in the formats our readers use, run it under your byline, and link it back to you.

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No application. A 15-minute call, and we ask what you want first.

Already publishing MediaWise · Open Secrets · Mo News · Dave Jorgenson

The problem

Don't let the algorithm decide who reads you.

Feeds reward whoever posts most, not whoever reports best. More than half of internet traffic is now bots, and the platforms are filling with copy nobody wrote or checked. Newsreel is a closed network of vetted humans. No anonymous accounts, and no AI-written stories anywhere on it. Your byline sits next to real reporters, and readers can tell the difference.

Independence

Your name. Your subscribers. Your work.

Your byline, everywhere

Every story runs under your name and links back to you. Readers who find you here follow you home.

Zero platform fee

We take nothing from your subscriptions. Not a cut, not a processing fee, not later. Whatever you earn from your own readers stays yours.

Nothing is exclusive

Keep your Substack, your newsletter, your list, your copyright. Publish the same piece anywhere else you like, and leave whenever you want.

A different model

We don't get paid by your readers.

Most platforms take a percentage of what your audience pays you, so the more you earn, the more they make. Newsreel earns from somewhere else. More than 350 schools and libraries pay to carry us, and AI companies pay to license work from the network. That money funds the platform, which is why we can take nothing from your subscribers and mean it.

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What it pays

The honest version.

AI licensing Live

At least half to you when your work is licensed. Off by default, and you opt in story by story.

Subscriptions Live

All yours. We don't take a cut of what your readers pay you, now or ever.

Institutional Coming

Schools and libraries pay for Newsreel today. Sharing that with contributors is the next thing we turn on, and it is not running yet.

No signing bonuses and no paying people to join. If we can't pay it yet, we won't put it on a webpage.

Getting started

Live in a week.

We talk for 15 minutes

No form and no application. We ask what you want out of this before we tell you anything about us.

We adapt one piece

Point us at something you already published. We rebuild it in our formats and you approve it before it runs.

You get your numbers

Readers, quiz scores, and how far people got, per story, every week. Good or bad, you see them.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to leave Substack?

No. Newsreel is non-exclusive and we take nothing from your subscriptions. Most of our contributors publish in several places, and every story here links back to yours.

How much work is this?

Send us a link to something you wrote and we do the rest. Building an original story in our formats takes about half an hour, once you want to.

How many readers will I get?

We are early, and we would rather show you the real numbers on a call than advertise one here. Contributors get their own reader counts every week.

Who gets in?

Journalists and subject matter experts who clear our vetting bar. We are deliberately slow about it, because a network anyone can join is worth nothing to the people already in it.

Who owns what I publish?

You do. You keep your copyright, we license it to run on Newsreel, and you can take it and go at any time.

What is the AI policy?

No story on Newsreel is written by AI. We use it to build the product, never to write the news, and licensing your work to AI companies is your choice to make.

Come build it with us.

We are journalists building something and we would rather have you early. Fifteen minutes is all it takes to start.

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Jack Brewster · Founder & CEO