Congrats! Beyond impressed by the depth and breadth of your team and reporting. May the Free Press continue to deliver common sense while protecting free speech.
Congratulations! As an old-school journalist, who believes in research and keeping your bias to yourself, I couldn't be more grateful to you and your staff. Real journalism is the bedrock of democracy. Without you and a handful of other substacks, the American people would never have learned how much censorship has pervaded our society. We would have missed so much real information. And our ability to make informed decisions about things that impact us would suffer greatly as a result. Thank you.
Add this old-school journalist to the list. Thank God for Bari and others who carry the mantle of independent 4th Estate, while most so-called news organizations have relegated themselves to a subordinate division of the 1st and 2nd Estates.
Today's gospel reading in Catholic churches was about John the Baptist who when asked by the rabbis "who are you?" responded that "I am a voice crying out in the desert. Make straight the way of the Lord".
The same can be said of the Free Press, a voice crying out in the media desert. Make straight the way of the Constitution.
That's how I feel about Douglas Murray. A modern day prophet who stands straight as a rod and speaks truth about the situation in Israel even when hardly anyone else does.
It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that Common Sense saved my sanity! I was aghast and bewildered by what I was seeing and hearing from our esteemed media sources. I thought all the sane people of the country/world had been sucked into a dark vortex. Connecting with others via the comments has been as gratifying as the wonderful journalism.
Bari and the Free Press crew are cataloging the world as it is being sucked into that vortex, and the world as they are describing it is, at best, disturbing.
I would hope that the success The Free Press has enjoyed will light fires in the boardrooms of the legacy press and will start conversations as to where they have gone wrong.
Unfortunately, I think it will be essays such as that of James Bennet in the Atlantic and the searing review out of the Columbia School of Journalism that will make note of how and why "mainstream" journalism decided that their readership wasn't worth understanding.
The soul-searching will not be done by the publishers or editors. of the directors overseeing the performance of the company.
Missing from these discussions is any coherent, consistent discussion of how to reverse the slide into irrelevance. Missing from these discussions is an approach to changing newsroom culture that might actually be successful. -- A journal is not going to survive if it has to fire its entire staff and take on a new group of editors and writers, no matter how attractive such a move might seem at the time.
I urge The Free Press to take up the task of proposing and exploring solutions that recognize the permissions and constraints of our Constitution. I cannot think of a more qualified, dedicated, and objective group to assist us, The People, in leading the corrective measures that would be appropriate.
My first exposure to TFP was the Witch Trials podcast newly postpartum at the beginning of the year. A friend shared it and I was ENTHRALLED (and enraged and aghast ). When I realized the same people were publishing news articles, I knew they would be worth my time.
Then, after a few TGIFs (which my husband and I read out loud to each other and laugh through our pain ), I realized this deserved my money.
THEN my husband realized that THE Bari Weiss was the person behind it and made me realize we’d been talking about her (and her bravery and professionalism) since the NYT debacle insanity ridiculousness and we liked TFP even more.
I’m catholic which means my politics don’t fit in a square or round American box- to one side I look extremely conservative and to the other side I look like a flaming liberal (which ps is how I know I’m doing something right hashtag virtuous mean 😉) so to find a news source that RESPECTS plurality as a feature not a bug and is committed to civility and integrity in journalism is a balm to my soul. I often don’t agree with opinions published by TFP but I never have once thought I was supposed to be an idiot for disagreeing.
Thanks to everyone in this shop for all their hardwork and here’s to a bigger and better 2024 putting NYT and WashPo right out of business 💪🏽
Love Free Press, and love it even more when I don’t agree with each and every viewpoint. THIS is the best marketplace of ideas. Wishing the same speedy success to UATX, as the DEI and stifling of true education borne of discussion and debate has decimated the purpose of university elsewhere. Proud subscriber and will ever be so! Mazal Tov and here’s to more groundbreaking and idea shaping journalism in the year to come!
I've always been a curious person, and an avid reader. I have my own views, but I was raised to be tolerant and open minded about other people's views. I'm curious about why people are the way they are, and read all sorts of media publications from all viewpoints.
After Trump was elected, the media shifted. The writing became more hostile, emotional and irrational. I had a feeling I was being manipulated to be more angry. Then COVID hit, and it just got worse. I felt I was never reading the truth, but rather ever changing, and frequently contradictory articles. I'm only on Facebook, but I noticed my once balanced news feed became filled with angry posts from my once "liberal" friends. The Conservative and moderate voices disappeared. Private groups I was in for years became dominated by angry leftist moms, the conservative and moderate (me) moms stopped posting or left, because if you questioned the leftist moms, you would be attacked and called a racist, Trump supporting, transphobe which was generally never true.
I felt confused and a little depressed. The only place I could listen to an honest conversation was Joe Rogan and Dr. John Campbell on You Tube. Everything I used to read was completely dominated by left wing propaganda and anger.
One day, I heard Rogan mention Bari Weiss. I found Honestly, and I felt that someone was finally giving a voice to everything I thinking and feeling. I then found Common Sense, read TGIF, and was immediately hooked. In the comments section, I found the voices that had been censored on social media. I don't always agree with everyone, but I'm grateful for The Free Press and the talented writers that contribute every week. I'm thankful for the commenters that make me think, smile and sometimes really irritate me.
Bari and team, thank you so much for giving a voice to everyone that isn't part of this Leftist insanity that dominates everything. I believe we are the majority, and together we can fight back against the forces that seek to divide us.
Wow...Lauren, I had very similar path to Bari’s Common Sense. TFP‘s work is so balanced and trustworthy that I gifted subscriptions for the malleable minds of my 3 kids (13,18,20)
I'm very glad I decided to subscribe to you. It feels like being part of a genuine counterculture movement, but with clear-headed, brave people at the helm and not just some naïve ideologues. I pray that you stay on course. Love from Germany
Congratulations! Reading The Free Press is one of the highlights of my day, especially on Fridays. TFP gives me hope that not all is lost for the good ol’ USA. Here’s to many more years!
congratulations and looking forward to reading more of your collective works! You give me hope, I am 70 years old and I had almost given up on “keeping up” on current events! Again, keep up the good work!
Generally really good stuff here, Bari (and Nellie and the rest of TFP team). I am gradually unsubscribing from a number of publications (NYT, WSJ, etc.) because their presentations are so biased and I can get a better representation of facts and events from other sources. TFP is a huge reason for that.
And, yes, I am one of those commenters who sometimes goes too far. I will try to do better, though my history of trying is not great.
Congratulations. I too have joined the great unsubscribing from corporate media. Those corporate outlets have gone from merely biased, to political spinning, to outright lying. It felt like such a betrayal, and I just don’t want to support their propaganda with my hard earned dollars. The money saved now goes to supporting independent journalists, not only TFP, but some of the smaller outlets. Independent media is the restoration and the future of honest journalism.
Congrats! Beyond impressed by the depth and breadth of your team and reporting. May the Free Press continue to deliver common sense while protecting free speech.
The Free Press, Racket, Rumble, Public, The Fourth Turn, McCook, Beaton -- my portfolio of my best investments for 2023.
Beats the S&P 500 all to hell, right?
Congratulations! As an old-school journalist, who believes in research and keeping your bias to yourself, I couldn't be more grateful to you and your staff. Real journalism is the bedrock of democracy. Without you and a handful of other substacks, the American people would never have learned how much censorship has pervaded our society. We would have missed so much real information. And our ability to make informed decisions about things that impact us would suffer greatly as a result. Thank you.
I'm also an old-school journalist and I agree. It's great to see journalists doing the work journalists are supposed to do.
Add this old-school journalist to the list. Thank God for Bari and others who carry the mantle of independent 4th Estate, while most so-called news organizations have relegated themselves to a subordinate division of the 1st and 2nd Estates.
Today's gospel reading in Catholic churches was about John the Baptist who when asked by the rabbis "who are you?" responded that "I am a voice crying out in the desert. Make straight the way of the Lord".
The same can be said of the Free Press, a voice crying out in the media desert. Make straight the way of the Constitution.
Keep up your good work.
That's how I feel about Douglas Murray. A modern day prophet who stands straight as a rod and speaks truth about the situation in Israel even when hardly anyone else does.
Well said. Great comparison. Totally agree.
So glad to have been reading this since you were known as “Common Sense”. You have been a light in the darkness and it grows brighter. Thank you.
It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that Common Sense saved my sanity! I was aghast and bewildered by what I was seeing and hearing from our esteemed media sources. I thought all the sane people of the country/world had been sucked into a dark vortex. Connecting with others via the comments has been as gratifying as the wonderful journalism.
Bari and the Free Press crew are cataloging the world as it is being sucked into that vortex, and the world as they are describing it is, at best, disturbing.
I would hope that the success The Free Press has enjoyed will light fires in the boardrooms of the legacy press and will start conversations as to where they have gone wrong.
Unfortunately, I think it will be essays such as that of James Bennet in the Atlantic and the searing review out of the Columbia School of Journalism that will make note of how and why "mainstream" journalism decided that their readership wasn't worth understanding.
The soul-searching will not be done by the publishers or editors. of the directors overseeing the performance of the company.
Missing from these discussions is any coherent, consistent discussion of how to reverse the slide into irrelevance. Missing from these discussions is an approach to changing newsroom culture that might actually be successful. -- A journal is not going to survive if it has to fire its entire staff and take on a new group of editors and writers, no matter how attractive such a move might seem at the time.
I urge The Free Press to take up the task of proposing and exploring solutions that recognize the permissions and constraints of our Constitution. I cannot think of a more qualified, dedicated, and objective group to assist us, The People, in leading the corrective measures that would be appropriate.
Amen to that. Me too!
Totally agree.
My first exposure to TFP was the Witch Trials podcast newly postpartum at the beginning of the year. A friend shared it and I was ENTHRALLED (and enraged and aghast ). When I realized the same people were publishing news articles, I knew they would be worth my time.
Then, after a few TGIFs (which my husband and I read out loud to each other and laugh through our pain ), I realized this deserved my money.
THEN my husband realized that THE Bari Weiss was the person behind it and made me realize we’d been talking about her (and her bravery and professionalism) since the NYT debacle insanity ridiculousness and we liked TFP even more.
I’m catholic which means my politics don’t fit in a square or round American box- to one side I look extremely conservative and to the other side I look like a flaming liberal (which ps is how I know I’m doing something right hashtag virtuous mean 😉) so to find a news source that RESPECTS plurality as a feature not a bug and is committed to civility and integrity in journalism is a balm to my soul. I often don’t agree with opinions published by TFP but I never have once thought I was supposed to be an idiot for disagreeing.
Thanks to everyone in this shop for all their hardwork and here’s to a bigger and better 2024 putting NYT and WashPo right out of business 💪🏽
Love Free Press, and love it even more when I don’t agree with each and every viewpoint. THIS is the best marketplace of ideas. Wishing the same speedy success to UATX, as the DEI and stifling of true education borne of discussion and debate has decimated the purpose of university elsewhere. Proud subscriber and will ever be so! Mazal Tov and here’s to more groundbreaking and idea shaping journalism in the year to come!
I've always been a curious person, and an avid reader. I have my own views, but I was raised to be tolerant and open minded about other people's views. I'm curious about why people are the way they are, and read all sorts of media publications from all viewpoints.
After Trump was elected, the media shifted. The writing became more hostile, emotional and irrational. I had a feeling I was being manipulated to be more angry. Then COVID hit, and it just got worse. I felt I was never reading the truth, but rather ever changing, and frequently contradictory articles. I'm only on Facebook, but I noticed my once balanced news feed became filled with angry posts from my once "liberal" friends. The Conservative and moderate voices disappeared. Private groups I was in for years became dominated by angry leftist moms, the conservative and moderate (me) moms stopped posting or left, because if you questioned the leftist moms, you would be attacked and called a racist, Trump supporting, transphobe which was generally never true.
I felt confused and a little depressed. The only place I could listen to an honest conversation was Joe Rogan and Dr. John Campbell on You Tube. Everything I used to read was completely dominated by left wing propaganda and anger.
One day, I heard Rogan mention Bari Weiss. I found Honestly, and I felt that someone was finally giving a voice to everything I thinking and feeling. I then found Common Sense, read TGIF, and was immediately hooked. In the comments section, I found the voices that had been censored on social media. I don't always agree with everyone, but I'm grateful for The Free Press and the talented writers that contribute every week. I'm thankful for the commenters that make me think, smile and sometimes really irritate me.
Bari and team, thank you so much for giving a voice to everyone that isn't part of this Leftist insanity that dominates everything. I believe we are the majority, and together we can fight back against the forces that seek to divide us.
I couldn't have said it better, so I'll just say "Ditto" :)
Wow...Lauren, I had very similar path to Bari’s Common Sense. TFP‘s work is so balanced and trustworthy that I gifted subscriptions for the malleable minds of my 3 kids (13,18,20)
So well said Lauren!
Amen
I'm very glad I decided to subscribe to you. It feels like being part of a genuine counterculture movement, but with clear-headed, brave people at the helm and not just some naïve ideologues. I pray that you stay on course. Love from Germany
Congratulations! TFP is a national treasure. Keep up the great work Bari and team….we love you guys!
Congratulations and keep up the excellent work. Douglass Murray’s Sunday poetry readings are wonderful, and profoundly moving.
Yes, I loved that too. Can’t get enough of Douglas.
Keep up the good work.
After the way the NYT treated Bari the best revenge is success.
I never watch the news and now I have you to depend on for unbiased reporting.
Cheers.
Mazel Tov! My subscription to the Free Press is the best money spent.
Congratulations! Reading The Free Press is one of the highlights of my day, especially on Fridays. TFP gives me hope that not all is lost for the good ol’ USA. Here’s to many more years!
Brava Bari!
And Nellie!
And Nellie! And Bebez!
congratulations and looking forward to reading more of your collective works! You give me hope, I am 70 years old and I had almost given up on “keeping up” on current events! Again, keep up the good work!
Generally really good stuff here, Bari (and Nellie and the rest of TFP team). I am gradually unsubscribing from a number of publications (NYT, WSJ, etc.) because their presentations are so biased and I can get a better representation of facts and events from other sources. TFP is a huge reason for that.
And, yes, I am one of those commenters who sometimes goes too far. I will try to do better, though my history of trying is not great.
Congratulations. I too have joined the great unsubscribing from corporate media. Those corporate outlets have gone from merely biased, to political spinning, to outright lying. It felt like such a betrayal, and I just don’t want to support their propaganda with my hard earned dollars. The money saved now goes to supporting independent journalists, not only TFP, but some of the smaller outlets. Independent media is the restoration and the future of honest journalism.