The American Spectator

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox magazine Template:Conservatism US The American Spectator is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell (the current editor-in-chief) and Wladyslaw Pleszczynski.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The magazine has featured the writings of several authors such as Canadian Malcolm Gladwell, Greg Gutfeld and Dinesh D'Souza. Current frequently contributing writings include Daniel Flynn, Paul Kengor, Robert Stacy McCain, Scott McKay, George Neumayr, and George Parry.

It gained popularity in the 1990s during its investigation of Bill Clinton under what became known as its Arkansas Project. During this same time period, The American Spectator received a $1.8 million donation from Richard Mellon Scaife.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Despite this success, the magazine has not been able to maintain the circulation it reached at the time, and has been criticized for its editorial stances.

History

The magazine American Spectator is published by the nonprofit media organization American Spectator Foundation. The foundation itself was founded in 1969, with "the stated goal of bringing quality journalism to the forefront of the national political conversation".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The magazine's circulation increased tenfold during the investigation of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton under what became known as its "Arkansas Project".<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

However, American political commentator Rush Limbaugh has been credited for the popularity of The American Spectator, due to his free promotion of the magazine and the paid advertisements on Limbaugh's radio and TV shows, which reached an audience of 20 million.<ref name=":1" />

Following financial shortfalls, including a resistance from Tyrell to have the Arkansas Project audited, The American Spectator was sold to George Gilder, leading to layoffs and a relocation to Great Barrington, Massachusetts.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref> Circulation has not returned to the near 300,000 that the magazine saw during its investigation of the Clintons.<ref name=":3" />

Controversies

In the early 1990s, The American Spectator published two lengthy essays by writer David Brock, "The Real Anita Hill" and the "Troopergate story", both of alleged inappropriate behavior by then-President Bill Clinton.<ref name=":1" /> Brock has since denounced the former article in the 2003 book Blinded by the Right: the Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, in which he states that the article caused the magazine's content to move "away from thoughtful essays and scholarly reviews and humor pieces" to "hit jobs".<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book An entire chapter (Chapter 5) is devoted to describing Brock's experience writing "The Real Anita Hill" article and book in the early 1990s. The "hit jobs" quote is from p. 110.</ref>

In 2011, Assistant Editor Patrick Howley published a piece detailing his infiltration of a protest in Washington, D.C. In the article, Howley asserts his aim to "mock and undermine" the protest against American imperialism, and writes in the first person about his experiences protesting at the National Air and Space Museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This article, and the methods detailed within, was condemned by The Guardian, The Atlantic's "Atlantic Wire" blog, and The Economist, because they believed the correspondents who worked on the story had conflated journalism and politics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Matt Steinglass of The Economist wrote that Howley "winds up offering a vision of politics as a kind of self-focused performance art, or perhaps (to say the same thing) a version of Jackass."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 2020, the American Spectator Foundation filed a lawsuit in federal court against Press Holdings Media Group, a for-profit company that owns the British conservative magazine The Spectator. The lawsuit alleged that the company used American Spectator's trademark name and imagery when publishing the Spectator USA website and the U.S. version of their magazine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The American Spectator has been criticized for its "hype and hysteria" and "out-of-control screeds that attack the obvious suspects and lack corroboration".<ref name=":1" /> The environmental campaigning organization Greenpeace claims that the magazine is part of a supposed "conservative media network with clear Koch influence [that] serves as a reliable platform for attacks on the scientific consensus of global warming".<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Online publication

Template:Update section The magazine's final monthly print publication was released in July/August 2014. While The American Spectator did issue a September/October PDF-only version late in mid-November 2014, the masthead still claimed that it was "published monthly, except for combined July/Aug and Jan/Feb issues." A note from Editorial Director Wladyslaw Pleszczynski admitted that "...we have some problems of our own."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Pleszczynski added that the issue "was ready for release well over a month ago but for reasons affecting many a print publication these days couldn't be published on actual pages and after considerable delay is now being released in digital form only." Subsequently, online publications have become permanent and available.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The latest editions of the magazine:

Return to print

The magazine returned to print in the fall of 2017 under the direction of Hannah Rowan. It is published in the winter and summer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Core editorial staff

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading

  • David Brock, Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, Crown, 2002. Template:ISBN
  • R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. (ed.), Orthodoxy: The American Spectator's 20th Anniversary Anthology, Harper & Row, 1987. Template:ISBN
Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=The_American_Spectator&oldid=193543"