When I left sales and marketing for journalism more than 20 years ago, I had this idea that I might do it better than the professionals.
Reporting the news—that takes skill, and over time I learned to love delivering scoops (more on that in a moment.) But news and information presented without proper context is incredibly vague at best and wildly misleading at worst. It was a big problem with the reporting that dominated local and national political coverage, and one that I thought I might be able to contribute to solving. And that was then. Today, in a digitized news machine driven by social media algorithms, the lack-of-context problem is worse than ever.
But after years in that system, I have finally landed somewhere that encourages me to do what I can to address this nagging problem afflicting political news coverage: That place is The Dispatch.
When Jonah and Steve founded The Dispatch a few years ago, I watched with interest as they sought to establish a media outlet dedicated not only to fact-based reporting and center-right political commentary, but an organization committed to providing context for all of that content, so that readers understood what to make of it, and if they so choose, what to do with it. When people ask me how I compare The Dispatch to other places I’ve worked, or other places I could work, this is my favorite thing to tell them. Which gets me to the other reason I’m here.
Somewhere when I was a kid, I fell in love with American political campaigns. And that fits perfectly with one of our newest projects here at The Dispatch, the Dispatch Politics newsletter, now publishing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In addition to publishing significant news and analysis about the 2024 presidential campaign, national political trends and an occasional look at the big things happening in Congress, I’m a regular contributor to Dispatch Politics, along with three of my talented colleagues:Andrew Egger, Audrey Fahlberg, and Mike Warren.
If you’re remotely interested in the state of American politics and the twists and turns of the 2024 campaign—for president, control of Congress or some of the big races for governor—we really hope you’ll give Dispatch Politics a look. By design, this newsletter is not a hot-take factory with a bunch of over-heated opinions designed either to reassure you or trigger you, about any party, candidate, or cultural controversy.
Remember, a moment ago I said I’d have more to say about scoops? Dispatch Politics is a newsletter. It’s published to tell you something important and interesting you didn’t know. And of course, to put it all in context. For those of you who are already Dispatch members, thank you for your continued support. For those of you who aren’t, we hope you’ll give us a shot. We think you’ll be glad you did.
— David M. Drucker
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