The Dispatch

The Dispatch is an American center-right, subscription-based online magazine that launched in beta in October 2019 and fully on January 7, 2020. It was founded by three conservative journalists: Stephen F. Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, and Toby Stock. Hayes and Goldberg, both veterans of The Weekly Standard and National Review, announced the venture through Axios, describing it as a digital media company offering “reporting from the center right.” The founders raised about $6 million from a few dozen individual investors, deliberately skipping venture capital to maintain editorial independence.

From the start, The Dispatch positioned itself as a fact-based alternative to both mainstream media and the increasingly boosterish right-wing press. Its founding manifesto criticizes the clicks-driven revenue model of modern journalism and the commodification of “hot takes” that shed “more heat than light.” The company launched with only eight full-time staffers, which Hayes likened to “a pirate skiff with limited provisions amidst choppy waters.” Within months, it claimed nearly 10,000 paying subscribers, and its podcast briefly appeared on Apple's Top 100 news podcasts in January 2020.

Today, The Dispatch employs around 27 full-time staff and has expanded its offerings to include multiple newsletters, podcasts, and live events. In 2025, it acquired SCOTUSblog, the prominent Supreme Court law blog, which now operates as a subsidiary. The company continues to grow its community through events like the Dispatch Summit, which drew 300 attendees from 30 states to the National Press Club. [edit]