Welcome to The Dispatch, Upgraded
Good Morning,
Welcome to The Dispatch, upgraded.
Starting today, we’re asking our readers to make an investment in The Dispatch. We know you’ve given us your time, and we appreciate it. Now we invite you to become paying members, with three different options for the length of your membership — monthly, annual and lifetime. Joining us will give you instant access to all of our premium editorial content without restriction—including exclusive access to members-only newsletters, short-form podcasts, conference calls with writers, live-streamed panel discussions and events—featuring Jonah Goldberg, David French, Sarah Isgur, and Steve Hayes as well as our growing team of writers and contributors.
We think there are dozens of reasons to join, but some might question our objectivity on the matter. In the interest of brevity, we’ll focus on just two: the quality of the content and of the user experience.
What You’ll Be Supporting
We’re trying to do something different.
We believe there’s an under-served market for substantive, fact-driven reporting and commentary on politics, policy and culture—informed by conservative principles. We’re offering journalism that sets aside clickbait, hot-takes, and outrage chum in favor of articles and discussions meant to enlighten and challenge. We aim for light rather than heat, we seek to provide information over mere affirmation and, with the exception of the first clause of this sentence, we prize quality writing over clichés.
The economic incentives to monetize eyeballs undermine the user experience as well. There is good stuff out there, but you often have to wade through auto-play videos, a barrage of pop-up ads and stupid surveys to get through it. We won’t insult your intelligence with our editorial content and we won’t waste your time delivering it.
We want to declutter and slow things down, too. We don’t want to win the race to be wrong first or offer hot takes that grow as cold and useless as a match 30 seconds after it’s been lit. We’d rather wait a beat, do some reporting and some double-checking, and spend some time thinking about what’s happening before reacting to it. We’ll sometimes be slower but, we hope, more accurate and more thoughtful, too.
This doesn’t mean you’ll be joining an outfit that offers finger-wagging, eat-your-veggies journalism. You’ve read the G-File, right? We’ll continue to provide writing that’s engaging and original, the kind of work that tests our own assumptions and, we hope, challenges some of yours. If you’re reading our work because you agree with everything we say, and we’re confirming all of your previously held views, we’re probably not doing our jobs very well.
If this approach is something you would value, please join us.
If this is something that’s important for the country, please join us.
If you just want to help some scrappy entrepreneurs make a go of something worthwhile, please join us.
We’re offering three options for our members, a $10 monthly rate, a $100 annual rate, or a lifetime membership for $1,500. If you are interested in information on discounts for students, current/retired military or groups (over seven), please inquire by replying to this email We’re looking to build a community here and send a message in the process. And to do that we need your support and participation. So, please join us.
Most of what we will be producing for members will be available via delivery to your inboxes—whether in the form of newsletters or podcasts. And in the coming months we hope to be able to give you a range of options on how you receive it. Want every single newsletter delivered in full to your inbox? No problem. Want to pick and choose which newsletters you want to receive? We can do that. Do you want just one email each day with highlights and links to the specific newsletters you’ve chosen? That’s coming, too.
There are certainly skeptics of what we’re doing. Again and again, we have been told there’s “no market” for what we’re doing, that a center-right media company that puts facts and reporting at the center of the enterprise is doomed to fail. Writers catering to the alt-right dismiss The Dispatch and our “insignificant number of subscribers,” insisting that nobody wants the kind of news and analysis we’re providing.
Some on the left say the same thing. The “popular prospects for The Dispatch … seem dubious,” a writer at The New Republic wrote last week. What sells, we’re told, is outrage-stoking, opinion-slinging and “purely partisan diatribes that reinscribe the American right’s sense of utmost cultural exclusion even at a moment of peak political power.” The Dispatch “is trying to replicate a model of conservative discourse that’s failed again and again on the American right over the past 70-odd years.”
We hope to prove them wrong. And we hope you’ll help us.
What You’ll Be Getting
The best of The Dispatch in three different areas: newsletters, podcasts and community.
Our Writing
The Morning Dispatch: An essential daily news roundup, TMD includes a brief look at important stories of the day and original reporting and analysis from The Dispatch team, along with recommendations for deeper reading and some much-needed humor in these anxious times.
The G-File: Jonah Goldberg’s “news” letter, an institution now for more than two decades. Built around Jonah’s deep understanding of American history, his passion for conservative ideas and his, well, unique sensibility, it’s a must-read every Friday. And now he’ll be adding semi-regular mini G-Files during the week.
The French Press: In your inbox at least three times each week, The French Press includes observations and trenchant analysis from David French on politics, culture, law and religion (and, even some basketball). David draws on his vast experience—as a First Amendment lawyer, a military veteran, a committed Christian, among other things—for his always-interesting, often surprising missives.
Vital Interests: An authoritative look at significant foreign policy and national security issues from Thomas Joscelyn, a senior editor at Long War Journal and senior fellow at Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Once each week, Joscelyn will send a deeply researched but highly readable analysis of American power on the world stage. He’ll supplement his weekly newsletter with occasional news and event-driven updates.
The Dispatch Fact-Check: With the frantic pace of the news-cycle and the ever-increasing flow of dubious information, our fact-checkers look carefully at claims from elected officials, reports from the news media, and disinformation on social media to help you understand what’s true and what’s not.
The Dispatch Weekly: From Rachael Larimore, managing editor of The Dispatch, comes our Saturday morning roundup of work we’ve produced over the preceding week. While we think all of our stuff is worth reading, think of this as a best-of-the-best to help you catch up, with your Saturday morning coffee after a busy week.
Our Podcasts
In general, our podcasts will remain available to the general public. But members of The Dispatch will have access to special members-only segments added to your favorite podcasts and occasional exclusive podcasts. In the coming months, members will able access restricted video feeds of podcast recordings.
Our Community
From our earliest discussions about building The Dispatch, we placed community at the center of our plans. What does that mean in practical terms? Our articles and newsletters come with discussion threads that are available only to members of The Dispatch. (The discussions that take place there are nothing like the shoutfests you find on social media. In one discussion last week, one member suggested that another was a bit over the top and the second member … actually agreed and promised to be more mindful next time.) We are also working on a series of small events, livestreamed to members from our offices in Washington, D.C., as well as regular conference calls with our writers, editors and contributors. Finally, we’re in the early stages of developing a series of larger events, in DC and on the road, with priority access for members and guests.
Your membership will give you an open door to all of this and will help ensure the growth of journalism driven by facts and reported analysis.
If you choose not to join us, that’s okay, too. We know there are many competing demands for your dollars and we appreciate that you’ve decided to give us a shot. You can continue sampling our work with “light” versions of some newsletters, including The Morning Dispatch, and some editions of the G-File and The French Press. And you’ll still get The Weekly Dispatch every Saturday. We hope to earn your membership.
We believe that the doubters are wrong, that what we’re doing is important and that there is a market for it. In this moment of extraordinary volatility in both politics and journalism, we hope you’ll let us help make sense of it all. Please consider joining us today.
Thanks for your consideration.
