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| Editor | R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. |
|---|---|
| Categories | Politics |
| Founder | George Nathan Truman Newberry |
| First issue | 1967; 58 years ago (1967) |
| Company | American Spectator Foundation |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Alexandria,Virginia,U.S. |
| Language | English |
| Website | spectator |
| ISSN | 0148-8414 |
The American Spectator is aconservativeAmerican magazine covering news and politics, edited byR. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by thenon-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell (the current editor-in-chief) andWladyslaw Pleszczynski.[1][2][3][4]
The magazine has featured the writings of several authors such as CanadianMalcolm Gladwell,Greg Gutfeld andDinesh D'Souza. Current frequently contributing writings includeDaniel Flynn,Paul Kengor,Robert Stacy McCain, Scott McKay, George Neumayr, and George Parry.
It gained popularity in the 1990s during its investigation ofBill Clinton under what became known as itsArkansas Project. During this same time period,The American Spectator received a $1.8 million donation fromRichard Mellon Scaife.[5] 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.
The magazineAmerican 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".[6]
The magazine's circulation increased tenfold during the investigation ofBill Clinton andHillary Clinton under what became known as its "Arkansas Project".[7]
However, American political commentatorRush Limbaugh has been credited for the popularity ofThe 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.[7]
Following financial shortfalls, including a resistance from Tyrell to have the Arkansas Projectaudited,The American Spectator was sold toGeorge Gilder, leading to layoffs and a relocation toGreat Barrington, Massachusetts.[8] Circulation has not returned to the near 300,000 that the magazine saw during its investigation of the Clintons.[8]
In the early 1990s,The American Spectator published two lengthy essays by writerDavid Brock, "The Real Anita Hill" and the"Troopergate story", both of alleged inappropriate behavior by then-President Bill Clinton.[7] Brock has since denounced the former article in the 2003 bookBlinded 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".[9]
In 2011, Assistant EditorPatrick Howley published a piece detailing his infiltration of aprotest in Washington, D.C. In the article, Howley asserts his aim to "mock and undermine" the protest againstAmerican imperialism, and writes in the first person about his experiences protesting at theNational Air and Space Museum.[10] This article, and the methods detailed within, was condemned byThe Guardian,The Atlantic's "Atlantic Wire" blog, andThe Economist, because they believed the correspondents who worked on the story had conflated journalism and politics.[11][12][13] Matt Steinglass ofThe 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 ofJackass."[14]
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 magazineThe Spectator. The lawsuit alleged that the company usedAmerican Spectator's trademark name and imagery when publishing the Spectator USA website and the U.S. version of their magazine.[15]
The American Spectator has been criticized for its "hype and hysteria" and "out-of-control screeds that attack the obvious suspects and lack corroboration".[7] The environmental campaigning organizationGreenpeace claims that the magazine is part of a supposed "conservative media network with clearKoch influence [that] serves as a reliable platform for attacks on the scientific consensus of global warming".[16]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2016) |
The magazine's final monthly print publication was released in July/August 2014. WhileThe American Spectator did issue a September/OctoberPDF-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 DirectorWladyslaw Pleszczynski admitted that "...we have some problems of our own."[17] 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.[18]
The latest editions of the magazine:
The magazine returned to print in the fall of 2017 under the direction of Hannah Rowan. It is published in the winter and summer.[23]
