“Be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray,” reads the message featured on the Federalist’s front page, the web magazine’s playfully combative mission statement on display for all to see.
However, unlike many Right-leaning media groups, the Federalist’s founders say they aren’t interested in “targeting” the left or monitoring lawmakers in the nation’s capital.
Rather, according to founder Ben Domenech, the Federalist was launched in 2013 for one purpose: To provide a nation of readers with well-written and thoughtful articles with a “broad center-right appeal” on topics ranging from faith, to entertainment, to politics.
“The Federalist exists because we believe there was an audience for smart cultural-opinion writing speaking to a center-right audience,” founder Domenech told the Washington Examiner. “While there are a number of excellent media entities on the right, most of them focus on horse-race politics and policy arguments. That’s secondary for us.”
One goal, he added, is to avoid the bubble mentality so common with writers in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
“Most people speak about issues through the lens of culture, sports, and relationships, not based on elections and legislation,” the 32-year-old said. “That’s why our most popular stories are about sex, pop culture, faith, child-rearing, and more, and why we don’t write gauzy profiles of congressmen.”
“[T]he politics of Taylor Swift, Neil de Grasse Tyson, and John Oliver matter a lot more than the politics of another white guy in a Brooks Brothers suit who has a plan to save the country,” he said.
The Federalist aims to appeal to readers from all backgrounds, but there’s also a specific focus on attracting millennial and female readers.
“The idea was a web magazine for a broad audience where culture was not an afterthought, where women would be sought after as writers and readers, and where inside-the-beltway thinking was viewed skeptically,” senior editor Mollie Hemingway told the Washington Examiner.
Further, according to senior editor David Harsanyi, formerly of the Denver Post and Human Events, the Federalist also offers a forum for social conservative and libertarian authors to hash out ideological discussions and differences.
It’s “a space where libertarians and conservatives can debate policy,” Harsanyi told the Washington Examiner.
In short, and, as noted by Bloomberg’s Dave Weigel, the Federalist is far more interested in culture than it is in horserace politics and the so-called “mainstream media.”
But that’s not to say that Federalist shies away from discussing things like corruption in the nation’s capital or allegations of media malpractice. Because it does that, too. In fact, some of the publication’s most popular articles have been about websites, including Vox, Slate and Salon, being “embarrassingly wrong” on certain issues.
Hemingway, who often authors the Federalist’s media-criticism articles, echoed Domenech’s thoughts on reaching readers outside the “D.C. beltway.”
“It’s fun to see how readers might first visit us to see a story about pregnancy or beer but end up staying on the site to read about some transportation policy issue,” she said. “Our articles appeal, intentionally, to a much broader audience.”
Part of the Federalist’s early success, she added, is due to its hundreds of contributing authors, many of whom are not professional writers.
“[O]ur finest contributions come from people whose primary job is not in a writing field,” Hemingway said. “They’re software engineers, homeschool parents, pastors, nurses.”
To date, the Federalist has published materials submitted by 314 contributing authors.
Co-founder Sean Davis boasted of the Federalist’s success: “All our growth thus far has been organic. We don’t do click bait. We don’t buy Facebook traffic. We don’t do slideshows.”
“Our focus has been on finding great writers and publishing great content that speaks to the anxieties, desires, and interests of people who don’t eat, breathe, and sleep politics,” the former economic policy adviser to Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas and chief staff investigator for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. told the Examiner.
Davis drew national attention for the Federalist recently when he discovered celebrity scientist Neil de Grasse Tyson had fabricated quotes supposedly attributed to former President George W. Bush. Tyson later backed off the fake quotes and offered a half-hearted explanation for his fabrications.
“You just tell the truth and hope that people get it. We can’t force people to acknowledge the truth,” Davis said, referring to recent attempts by some media outlets to gloss over Tyson’s fabrications. “All we can do is put it out there and hope people get it. To the extent that people insist on denying pretty basic stuff, that’s kind of on them.”
For now, the Federalist’s founders are proud of the web magazine’s accomplishments, most of them laughing off criticism aimed at the young publication.
“A Salon writer called us ‘the literary equivalent of a landfill in reverse,’ which was inventive, even if it ultimately doesn’t make any sense. So, yeah, that was the highest praise,” Harsanyi said.
“I continue to collect all the right critics. And that makes me happy, too,” Hemingway said.
Domenech and his team of writers are hopeful that the Federalist will continue to grow and soon become a major influence in national debates.
“National Review was founded in 1955, and it led to the rise of Goldwater and to Ronald Reagan’s presidency,” Domenech said.
“The Federalist launched just last year, and we intend to offer our writers a chance to continue to share their own unique perspectives on where the country is going and ought to go. I hope a growing audience will see us as a place that speaks to them and for them in a time of great upheaval in the nation and around the world,” he added.
