The Battle to Kill ‘Freedom of Reach’

The journalism metric that MATTERS is how many citizens dissident authors REACH. Substack is a work-around used by independent authors trying to reach enough citizens to slay bogus narratives.

RKF, Jr. probably reached more Americans than ever in his Confirmation Hearings. However, the reach of his message was intentionally suppressed in his presidential campaign. Children Health Defense’s efforts to sell anti-vax Onesies also reached record figures thanks to free advertising generously given by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In real estate, what matters more than anything is location, location, location.

In politics, we’ve been told, “It’s the economy, Stupid.”

In journalism - in the Battle of the Narratives - what matters is reach, reach, reach.

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I continue to analyze my subscriber metrics to see if I can identify trends that might suggest nefarious activities are being used to suppress the “reach” of my articles.

Today’s essay doesn’t focus as much on metrics that reveal the total number of subscribers writers might have, but on the number of people who actually read a given story.

IMO, if the reach of dissident or contrarian writers is being suppressed, this would be a disturbing development for writers who want to use their Substack newsletters to challenge dubious narratives, narratives that are used to control the population of the world.

That is, “total subscribers” is NOT the same thing as “number of readers reached.”

A few quick disturbing trends/metrics from my own newsletter …

For example, I now have approximately 7,100 subscribers. However, my last four articles generated, on average, only 4,360 “page views” (or “reads.”)

From analyzing four successive articles I published in late March 2022, I learned that - 22 months ago - each story I published resulted, on average, in 3,358 “page views.”

While my number of subscribers has increased by about 4,000 in the last 22 months, the average number of people who read one of my stories has increased by only 1,000. (My subscriber number increased by approximately 120 percent; my “readership” number only increased by 29 percent.)

Another metric that supports my theory that my reach has dramatically slowed: For the first six months of this newsletter, I averaged adding 17.6 subscribers/day. In the last six months of 2024, I averaged 4.47 new subscribers/day.

Said differently, each month (for my first six months as a Substack author), I was adding about 350 to 550 new (total) subscribers. (Note: Fewer than 4 percent are “paid” subscribers).

In the last six months of 2024, I was adding from 35 to 130 subscribers per month.

In contrast, liberal or Statists titans are blowing up on Substack …

For more context, I note that while my Substack was adding about 4.5 subscribers a day in the last six months of 2024, the Substack newsletters of liberal titans Robert Reich and Paul Krugman have been exploding almost exponentially.

For example, in the past few weeks, Reich’s newsletter has been adding more than 5,200 new subscribers every day; Krugman has been adding more than 4,700 subscribers every day. (See Reader Comments for documentation).

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As several Substack Contrarians remind readers, “freedom of speech” is definitely not the same thing as “freedom of reach.”

In the macro picture, in any “battle for hearts and minds,” how many people are actually exposed to articles/ideas is a detail of significant importance.

In my opinion, the only way to change harmful and dubious narratives is if enough people learn that the Status-Quo narratives might have been wrong - a project that actually requires real journalism … but also journalism or commentary that reaches a significant number of people.

All things considered, the number of people a given writer reaches with his or her content is probably the most important journalism metric of all.

‘Making money’ is NOT the main goal for most Contrarian Substack authors …

Of course, some writers want to make enough money to “make a living” for themselves or their family members. Others are happy if they just make a little money.

However, when I published my list of “140 Contrarian Substack authors,” I posited that financial renumeration is clearly NOT the primary motivation for this cohort of dissident authors, only a minute percentage of whom make more than the annual average wage.

As a general statement, the writers I was trying to promote are more interested in “influencing debates” or giving as many people as possible an alternative view about myriad important topics.

Presumably, the Censorship Industrial Complex was created for a reason

All of my non-bot subscribers, those who are authentic human beings, are acutely aware of the massive expansion of the so-called Censorship Industrial Complex (CIC).

It doesn’t take Einstein to figure out this coordinated complex was created for one and only one purpose - to thwart or suppress the reach of “dissident” writers or thinkers.

Personally, I’ve always viewed the CIC as an operation intended to prevent content that threatens the establishment from “going viral.” The goal is to make sure such content doesn’t reach the masses or the “mainstream” population.

That is, the key to the operation is to suppress the “reach” of writers and skeptics like myself.

I also know “our side” is NOT going to win any battles to debunk false and harmful narratives as long as the reach of our most persuasive and important thinkers and wordsmiths continues to be suppressed.

The history and growth of Substack tells us a fascinating story …

Substack itself was created to give independent writers a better platform to reach significant numbers of readers.

Pre-Substack, a writer either had to be hired by a company that was in the journalism/commentary business or, like myself, try to make a living as a freelance writer and hope enough editors would choose to publish articles that you’d come up with yourself.

Alas, if you happened to be very interested in writing about topics that are taboo in the mainstream media, nobody was going to see your writing because you either weren’t going to be hired by the captured “gatekeepers of the news” or the same people weren’t going to publish any “dissident” freelance articles.

People like myself were almost limited to posting our thoughts on Facebook … and, somewhere in the “New Normal” Year of 2020, even that option was taken away by Facebook’s reach-suppressing algorithms and its 15,000+ army of freedom-protecting “content moderators.”

*** (This button does more to grow my reach than anything else. I appreciate everyone who uses it.) ***

Enter Substack

The work-around for thousands of “independent” writers who had something to say and who didn’t want to submit to the CIC was … starting their own Substack newsletter.

The over-night ramp-up of CIC and the daily blarmy churned out by the Untrusted News Initiative explains why Substack went from an obscure start-up nobody had heard of … to one of the most important media innovations of our lifetimes.

Not only did “contrarian” writers by the thousands flock to Substack so did millions of readers who didn’t reflectively support or believe the claims of “authorities” like Anthony Fauci.

Many authors who quickly picked up on the “free speech” benefits of Substack flourished and saw their subscriber - and reader - numbers increase rapidly and impressively.

I joined the roster of “Covid Contrarian” writers later than many authors (on Sept. 24, 2022), but even I caught enough of this wave for my newsletter to rapidly develop a national and international audience.

And then, per my conjecture, ‘someone’ noticed what was happening …

Basically, what happened is this growing army of dissident writers was starting to reach impressive numbers of people.

Facebook certainly wasn’t a threat to the Status Quo. Nor was the 40,000 or so salaried journalists employed as stenographers in the MSM “news” companies. There also wasn’t enough “alternative media” websites that published contrarian freelance articles to raise any dire concerns.

However, every day, hundreds of Substack Contrarians were reaching more and more people with articles that never failed to challenge the authorized narratives.

In addition to this, some of these authors were becoming minor celebrities and, despite the best efforts of CIC employees, some of this content was filtering out into the mainstream population.

One goal of the CIC might effectively illustrate today’s point …

The Censorship Industrial Complex embraced several key objectives which illustrate the potential threat posed by a class of writers quickly labeled “disinformation super-spreaders.”

One objective of the CIC was to spearhead the battle against the scourge of “vaccine hesitancy.”

Correctly assessed, this particular battle can be recorded as a resounding defeat for the Establishment cohorts … as tens of millions of people were becoming increasingly-hesitant to get their next round of Covid boosters.

This result is probably mortifying for Substack’s founders to admit … However, the truth is what it is and the fact remains it was Substack’s own army of “independent” and “dissident” writers who largely explain the sea change in sentiment about the “efficacy” or “safety” of these shots.

(Note: At least 77 percent of Americans (probably more) are now disregarding the CDC’s “guidance” that American citizens should continue to get the latest Covid boosters.)

Almost by themselves, dissident pundits on one little writers’ platform harpooned the mission of history’s most intense and coordinated Propaganda Operation.

And, bless their hearts, these writers weren’t just focussing on the library of Covid lies. If a narrative was dangerous, dubious or false, these writers were trying to make more people aware of these serial prevarications.

Speaking for myself, it’s impossible for me to believe this “effect” wasn’t being noted in the board rooms of all the companies, governments and organizations that prosper from spreading bogus narratives.

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Many people, perhaps, believe the so-called Powers that Be - who created, funded and grew the CIC - would just ignore a “dissident” writers’ platform like Substack.

I’m not one of these people.

Instead of taking a laissez faire, disinterested approach to Substack’s trends, I think the same people who created and still support the mission of the CIC would do anything they could to suppress the reach of this growing army of dissident writers.

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(Every time I add a “Subscribe” or “Share” Button in one of my dispatches, all I’m really trying to do is grow or protect my reach. If my articles have no reach, I have no influence.)

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