Our Conversation With Berny Belvedere, Founder of Arc Digital

“People who read us will gain a better perspective overall of the issues that we produce. Why wouldn’t we want to be as influential as possible?“

On Wednesday, February 20, Merion West’s Henri Mattila was joined by the founder of the online commentary platform Arc Digital, Berny Belvedere.

Arc Digital is a young but increasingly influential outlet for political and cultural commentary, with a focus on delivering penetrating takes from a variety of viewpoints. For example, one of the five columnists at Arc describes himself as a “Strident homosexual,” while another a “Conservative feminist.” Berny, the Editor-in-Chief, himself is a devout Christian. This unlikely mix of voices makes for a particular, yet engaging, reading experience unrivaled in the so-called “intellectual Dark Web.”

Can you walk me through your personal journey to starting Arc Digital?

Absolutely. Arc was born out of the conviction that intellectual conservatism is a rare breed, at least when it comes to representation at the level of journalism. Ryan Huber (Arc’s cofounder) and I had a desire to have something that produced very high-quality conservative thought. From that point on, it very quickly took on a life of its own, and we realized the inner structure of what we were longing to produce was more like a marketplace of ideas type of site. A place that sort of legitimately fulfilled The Atlantic’s slogan, “No party or clique,” in a way that The Atlantic isn’t fulfilling now.