Over the past 16 months, Deep State Radio has grown thanks to the engagement and energy of our audience worldwide. We live in challenging times when it is essential to have access to candid perspectives, ideally views that you can’t find anywhere else and offer special insights into the threats we face, the opportunities they obscure and how to navigate in the right direction.
We also want to hear views that are unvarnished, not formalized or dressed-up for public consumption. We want the truth. We want it straight. And we want to hear the passion behind the thinking and take advantage of the kind of edge that cuts through the bullshit.
Fortunately, our experts down here in the Third Sub-basement of the Ministry of Snark have not only provided that, but they have done so in a way that has engaged an audience worldwide into an on-going dialogue. First the dialogue was through social media. It included the creation of unaffiliated but creative and energetic fan sites. Recently, it has seen the creation of a Deep State Book Club. Even more recently, we have launched a website, thedsrnetwork.com, that is designed to bring even more perspectives like those you have come to love to our beloved #deepstatenerd nation(s).
At the website, we hope you’ve already discovered new content including transcripts of all of our podcasts, “rants” which are mini audio op-eds, “briefs and debriefs” which are one-on-one deep dives with experts and blog posts. Soon you will enjoy “Deep State Daily”, a five-day-a-week email push newsletter that will offer an in-depth take on a breaking issue as well as links to perspectives you might not otherwise see from the web sources our experts rely upon. In not too long, you will also get video content and we’ll announce a series of exciting, characteristically NSFW Deep State Radio Live events.
And of course, a big part of the website is that it gives you a chance to support this expansion. You can become a member, get special content, pick up terrific Deep State Swag at a discount, but also help enable our further growth, new journalism and some cool new projects.
But that’s not all. We don’t see Deep State Radio as a traditional “media” outpost in anyway. First of all, that’s because we’re part of the Deep State and the Ministry of Snark and a thousand conspiracy theories and that in and of itself keeps us busy. But on another level (reality) we view this effort as one to build a community. We are not just pushing “memberships” as a way to fund what we’re doing (although, we’ll admit it, that’s a part of it…all this costs money). We want to really generate engagement among all of you—some of the smartest, most engaged, most creative, most informed people out there. We think enabling real exchange among all of you can be a great source of value for all of you. And fun. And stimulating.
Part of that will be through growing forums on the website. But an important element of it will be a new program we are launching called NEW VOICES. That clever title, from the Subdirectorate of Appellations and Acronymns here in the MoS, says it all. We think most discussions about national security, foreign policy and politics in established media are deeply flawed. Also, let’s be honest, really boring. As we discussed during our summer reading podcast, you can scan a table of contents, see the usual suspects and know exactly what is going to be said before it has been said.
Where are the voices of color? Where are the voices of women? Where are the voices of the rising generation? Where are the international voices who are closest to the issues being explored? And why don’t establishment publications make the effort to reach out to them?
These are questions we have grappled with and we think it is time we upset the equation. We want to create a platform, as big as it needs to be, to give NEW VOICES, a chance to be heard. In fact, we want NEW VOICES to be a big part of the Deep State Radio community.
So that leads to another set of questions: Do you have something to say? Are you a smart, educated, qualified commentator with a new insight, a view that simply is not being heard? Are you a great writer? Can you deliver a great audio viewpoint via one of our “Rants?” Are you a NEW VOICE that deserves to be heard? Do you represent a community that is under-served by traditional publications and websites?
If so, submit your piece (best length is under 1000 words, 1500 is the max) or your proposal with a rant, with a brief description of why anyone should listen to your views (your qualifications…this is not just going to be long Tweets folks, we’re looking for people with advanced education in these areas, real experience, great minds, great accomplishments…the voices everybody is going to have to reckon with in the years ahead.) Send them to submissions@thedsrnetwork.com. We will run the best ones we get, and we will promote them actively.
Does this make us the “off-Broadway” for the big-time politics, national security and foreign policy media? Fuck no. We’re the Silicon Valley. You’re the future. We’re the incubator. And we are going to be super-selective in which new voices we pick…but everyone, every single submission of value that HAS SOMETHING NEW AND IMPORTANT TO SAY will be published.
So, come one, come all. Stop complaining. Start writing. We look forward to welcoming you to the world…and to the global audience of hundreds of thousands, we already have here at Deep State Radio.
