Jump to content

Insight on the News

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Insight (magazine)" redirects here. For the Seventh-day Adventist children's publication, seeInsight (Adventist magazine).
Insight on the News
TypeNews magazine
Format
  • Magazine/journal
  • Website
Owner(s)News World Communications
PublisherNews World Communications
Founded1985
Political alignmentConservative
Ceased publication2004 (print)
2008 (online)
Headquarters3600New York AvenueNE,Washington, D.C.,U.S.
ISSN1051-4880
OCLCnumber42845787

Insight on the News,also calledInsight,was an Americanconservativeprint and onlinenews magazine.It was owned byNews World Communications,an international media conglomerate founded byUnification movementfounderSun Myung Moon,which at the time ownedThe Washington Times,United Press International,and several newspapers in Africa, Japan, South America, and.Insight's reporting sometimes resulted in journalistic controversy.[1][2][3]

History[edit]

Insightwas founded in 1985, three years after the founding ofThe Washington Times.Both publications were headquartered at 3600New York AvenueNE, inWashington, D.C.The magazine was subsidized annually with $40 million from News World, which by 2002 had shrunk to about $4 million.[4]

In 1991, the magazine was one of the first publications to use the word "Islamophobia".[5]In 1997Insightreported that the administration of President Bill Clinton gave political donors rights to be buried inArlington National Cemetery.This charge was widely repeated on talk radio and other conservative outlets; but was later denied by theUnited States Army,which has charge over the cemetery. Media and political pressure led to the body ofM. Larry Lawrence,a formerUnited States AmbassadortoSwitzerland,to be exhumed at Arlington andreinterredat another location.[6][7][8]

Conservative journalists who worked atInsightinclude Richard Starr,John PodhoretzandDavid Brock.[4]Contributors includedArnold Beichman,Arnaud de Borchgrave,Frank Gaffney,andLew Rockwell.

In 1998,CNNreported thatInsight"created a stir" whenPaula Jones,who had filed asexual harassmentlawsuit against President Clinton, was the magazine's guest at the annualWhite House Correspondents Associationdinner where Clinton spoke.[9]

In 1999,InsightcriticizedProject Megiddo,anFBIreport on possibleright-wing terrorismpredicted for the year 2000.[10][non-primary source needed]

In 2001,Insightprinted an article by Dan Smith which said thatimmigrationand an ethnically diverse population helped to protect the United States againstterrorism.[11]This article was reprinted as a chapter in the 2004 bookTerrorism: Opposing Viewpoints.[12][non-primary source needed]

In 2002,Insightprinted a storyThe Washington Timesreporter Steve Miller writing thatAfrican Americanswere doing well economically. This story was reprinted in the 2005 bookRace Relations: Opposing Viewpoints.[13][non-primary source needed]

In 2003,Insightmisquoted PresidentAbraham Lincolnas saying during theAmerican Civil War:"Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged." By 2008, this statement was being widely repeated, although Lincoln never said or wrote it.[14][15]

In 2004,Insightprinted an article by Abdulwahah Alkebsi defending the role ofIslamin bringingdemocracyto theMiddle East.The story was reprinted as a chapter in the 2004 book:Islam: Opposing Viewpoints.[16][non-primary source needed]

In 2004, News World Communications discontinued publication of the print magazine[4]and hiredJeffrey T. Kuhnerto runInsightas a stand-alonewebsite.Under Kuhner,Insightdid not identify its reporters, in what Kuhner described as an effort to encourage contributions from sources who "do not want to reveal their names". Kuhner said about this: “Reporters in Washington know a whole lot of what is going on and feel themselves shackled and prevented from reporting what they know is going on.Insightis almost like an outlet, an escape valve where they can come out with this information.”[2]

In 2007,Insightreported on an undercover investigation of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, located inFalls Church, Virginia,a suburb ofWashington, D.C.,by the group Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE).[17]Insight'sstory was denounced by theCouncil on American-Islamic Relations(CAIR).[18]

In May 2008,Insightended publication and wrote to its readers: "The kind of cutting edge behind-the-scenes political intelligence you have come to rely upon from Insight will now be available from its sister publication,The Washington Times."

2008 presidential campaign[edit]

On January 17, 2007,Insightpublished a story which claimed that someone on the campaign staff of American presidential candidate SenatorHillary Clintonhad leaked a report to one ofInsight'sreporters which said that SenatorBarack Obamahad "spent at least four years in a so-called madrassa, or Muslim seminary, inIndonesia"[19]Jeffrey T. Kuhner, who wrote the story, claimed that the source said that the Clinton campaign was "preparing an accusation that her rival Senator Barack Obama had covered up a brief period he had spent in an Islamic religious school in Indonesia when he was six." Clinton denied the allegations. When interviewed by theNew York Times,Kuhner refused to name the person said to be the reporter's source.[20]

Insight'sstory was reported on first by conservativetalk radioandFox News Channel,and then byThe New York Timesand other media.[20]CNNreporterJohn VausevisitedState Elementary School Menteng 01,a secularpublic schoolwhich Obama had attended for one year after attending aRoman Catholicschool for three, and found that each student received two hours of religious instruction per week in his or her own faith. He was told by Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster of the school, "This is a public school. We don't focus on religion. In our daily lives, we try to respect religion, but we don't give preferential treatment."[21]Students at Besuki wore Western clothing, and theChicago Tribunedescribed the school as "so progressive that teachers wore miniskirts and all students were encouraged to celebrateChristmas".[22][23][24]Interviews byNedra Picklerof theAssociated Pressfound that students of all faiths have been welcome there since before Obama's attendance. Akmad Solichin, the vice principal of the school, told Pickler: “The allegations are completely baseless. Yes, most of our students are Muslim, but there are Christians as well. Everyone's welcome here... it's a public school.”[25]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Insightmag, a Must-ReadColumbia Journalism Review2007-01-27
  2. ^abKirkpatrick, David D.(January 29, 2007)."Feeding Frenzy For a Big Story, Even if It's False".NY Times.Retrieved2007-11-25.
  3. ^"Resources: Who Owns What".The Columbia Journalism Review.2003-11-24. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-07-28.Retrieved2008-02-02."News World Communications is the media arm of Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church."
  4. ^abcAnnys Shin (May 3, 2004)."News World Layoffs to Idle 86 Workers".The Washington Post.
  5. ^Encyclopedia of Race and Ethnic studies p. 218, Routledge 2003.Routledge. 2003.
  6. ^Arlington Claims 'Just Not True'CNNNovember 21, 1997 "The current issue of Insight magazine, which is owned by the conservative Washington Times, says in a thinly sourced article, 'Clinton and Co. may have" sold "not only burial plots for recently deceased but also future rights.'"
  7. ^CNN, Arlington Controversy Stirs Again, Dec. 4, 1997
  8. ^CNN, Arlington Controversy Continues, Dec. 11, 1997
  9. ^Paula Jones Rubs Shoulders With Washington Elite At DinnerCNNApril 25, 1998 "A guest of Insight magazine, Jones entered the dining room holding the hands of the security guards who guided her to the table."
  10. ^FBI Targets `Right Wing' - Project Megiddo lists possible threats in the millennium
  11. ^"Q: Is Multiculturalism a Threat to the National Security of the United States? NO: Our Diverse Population Is Useful Both for National Defense and As a Model for International Peace,"31 December 2001Archived8 July 2012 atarchive.today
  12. ^Laura K. Egendorf editor, 2004,Terrorism: Opposing Viewpoints,Greenhaven Press (Farmington Hills), hardcover (ISBN0-7377-2246-0ISBN0-7377-2247-9ISBN0-7377-2246-0) and paperback (ISBN0-7377-2247-9)
  13. ^Race Relations: Opposing Viewpoints,James D. Torr editor, 2005, Greenhaven Press (Farmington Hills) (ISBN0-7377-2955-4) and paperback (ISBN0-7377-2956-2)
  14. ^Sawyer, Gary."Candidates victims of disinformation."Herald & Review,August 11, 2008.: "But Lincoln never said or wrote any such thing. The problem comes from a 2003 article by J. Michael Waller inInsight Magazine.Waller admits that Lincoln never made that statement and that the quote appears in the magazine, with quote marks around it, because of an editing error. "
  15. ^"Honest, It Wasn't Abe's Comment".The Washington Post.2007.
  16. ^Dudley, William, (editor) 2004,Islam: Opposing Viewpoints,Greenhaven Press(Farmington Hills) (ISBN0-7377-2238-X) and paperback (ISBN0-7377-2239-8).
  17. ^"Insight Magazine Mapping Sharia Project Uncovers Jihadists near DC".
  18. ^"Washington Times Promotes Hate Group That Would Outlaw Islam".
  19. ^Bacon Jr, Perry (November 29, 2007)."Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him".The Washington Post.
  20. ^ab"Anatomy of an anonymous political smear".International Herald Tribune.2007-01-29.Retrieved2008-02-18.
  21. ^"CNN debunks false report about Obama".CNN.January 22, 2007.RetrievedJanuary 26,2007.
  22. ^Higgins, Andrew (August 19, 2010)."Indonesia Catholic School Promotes Ties to Obama".CBS News.Archived fromthe originalon November 16, 2010.Retrieved2010-08-19.
  23. ^Barker, Kim (25 March 2007)."Obama madrassa myth debunked".Chicago Tribune.Retrieved4 September2010.
  24. ^"Obama attended an Indonesian public school".PolitiFact.December 20, 2007.RetrievedMarch 8,2010.
  25. ^Pickler, Nedra (2007-01-24)."Obama challenges allegation about Islamic school".San Diego Union-Tribune.Archived fromthe originalon 2008-05-17.Retrieved2008-02-10.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Insight_on_the_News&oldid=1233780594"