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The Dispatch
American online conservative magazine From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Dispatch is an American center-right subscription-based online magazine founded by Jonah Goldberg, Stephen F. Hayes, and Toby Stock.[1][2][3] Several of The Dispatch's staff (including Hayes) are alumni of The Weekly Standard, which is now defunct, and National Review.[1] The Dispatch acquired the law blog SCOTUSblog in 2025.[4]
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History
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After The Weekly Standard ceased publication in December 2018, Hayes, Goldberg, and Stock were inspired to start a media company with the goal of "producing serious, factually grounded journalism for a conservative audience".[5] Goldberg and Hayes expressed concern over the alliance between conservative media outlets and the Republican Party, and started The Dispatch with a desire to instead focus on conservative principles, regardless of party lines.[6] The company is based in downtown Washington, D.C.[5] By June 2020, The Dispatch had grown to twelve staffers.[7]
The Dispatch began with a beta launch in October 2019 and fully launched on January 7, 2020.[1] Hayes, Goldberg, and Stock own a majority of the company, but there are additional individual investors.[8] The founders intentionally avoided using venture capitalists.[7] At its launch in October 2019, The Dispatch had pooled $6 million in investment capital and had in its employ a full-time staff of eight individuals,[6] including founding editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg, managing editor Rachael Larimore, and (soon after its launch) senior editor David A. French.[2][9] In January 2020, shortly after launching, The Dispatch Podcast appeared briefly on Apple's Top 100 news podcasts.[5] By March 2020, the company claimed to have nearly 10,000 paying subscribers.[10]
The Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) certified The Dispatch's fact-checking division in May 2020.[11][12] As of October 2024, The Dispatch had more than 500,000 subscribers, with more than 40,000 of them paying for the full service.[13] The company pulled in nearly $2 million in revenue during its first year, most of which was from Substack subscriptions.[6][14] The Dispatch was Substack's first media company.[8] In October 2022, the publication moved from Substack to its own website.[15]
The Dispatch has been sharply critical of Donald Trump from a center-right perspective.[2] On 6 January 2021, after the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Rudy Giuliani left a voicemail message intended for Senator Tommy Tuberville on a different Senator's voicemail account. This message urged Tuberville to delay certification of the electoral vote: "Just try to slow it down." The unnamed Senator gave the message to The Dispatch, which immediately broke the story.[16] The next day, The Dispatch published an editorial calling for the impeachment and removal of President Trump.[17]
In April 2025, Dispatch Media, Inc. acquired the legal publication SCOTUSblog.[4][18]
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Content
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The Dispatch provides free web content, podcasts, and a mix of paid and free newsletters.[5] The Dispatch also produces a fact-checking column.[5]
Newsletters
- The Morning Dispatch – a morning deep dive into the big political and cultural stories of the day. It is written by Charlotte Lawson, Grayson Logue, and James P. Sutton.
- The G-File – Jonah Goldberg's weekly Friday newsletter. There is also a paid Wednesday newsletter, nicknamed the "Hump Day Epistle".[19]
- Boiling Frogs – a daily newsletter written by Nick Catoggio.[20]
- Capitolism – Scott Lincicome's weekly newsletter about federal economic policy.
- Wanderland – Kevin D. Williamson's weekly newsletter.[21]
- Dispatch Faith – essays from various faith writers, edited by Michael Reneau.[22]
Podcasts
- The Dispatch Podcast – hosted by Sarah Isgur, and co-starring Jonah Goldberg, Stephen Hayes, and Michael Warren. Jamie Weinstein also hosts a weekend interview edition.[23]
- The Remnant – a podcast featuring conversations between Jonah Goldberg and a weekly guest that mixes "history, pop culture, rank-punditry, political philosophy, and, at times, shameless book-plugging".[6][24] There is also a weekly solo podcast where Goldberg discusses his thoughts on the news of the week, along with explaining his weekly G-file, nicknamed the "Ruminant".[25]
- Advisory Opinions – podcast on law and culture with Sarah Isgur and David French.
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Notable personnel
- Stephen F. Hayes, CEO and co-founder
- Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief and co-founder
- David A. French, contributing editor
- Chris Stirewalt, contributing editor
- Sarah Isgur, staff writer and podcast host
- Nick Catoggio, staff writer[26]
- Kevin D. Williamson, national correspondent[27]
- Jamie Weinstein, podcast host
References
External links
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