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Insight on the News

Type	news magazine
Format	magazine and website
Owner	News World Communications, and the Unification Church
Founded	1980s
Political alignment	conservative
Headquarters	Washington DC

Insight on the News (also called just Insight) was an American conservative online and print news magazine. It was owned by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, which also owns the Washington Times, United Press International, and other media through News World Communications^[1][2][3]

Background and history

In 1991 Insight was one of the first publications to use the word "Islamophobia".^[4] In 1998 CNN reported that Insight "created a stir" when Paula Jones, who had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton, was the magazine's guest at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner where Clinton spoke.^[5] In 1999 Insight criticized Project Megiddo, an FBI report on possible right-wing terrorism predicted for the year 2000.^[6] In 2000, Insight published a cover story listing what it considered the top 15 colleges in the United States. The list included 3 state-owned schools, 2 evangelical Christian schools, 3 Presbyterian schools, 3 Roman Catholic schools, and 4 secular private schools. ^[7]

In 2001 Insight published a story on the Soviet Union's shoot-down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 which claimed that both the Soviet and American governments had covered up information about the incident. ^[8] In the same year it printed an article by Dan Smith which said that immigration and an ethnicly diverse population helped to protect the United States against terrorism.^[9] This article was reprinted as a chapter in the 2004 book Terrorism: Opposing Viewpoints.^[10]

In 2002 Insight printed a story by Washington Times reporter Steve Miller saying that African Americans were doing well economically. This story was reprinted in the 2005 book Race Relations: Opposing Viewpoints. ^[11] In 2004 Insight printed an article by Abdulwahah Alkebsi defending the role of Islam in bringing democracy to the Middle East. The story was reprinted as a chapter in the 2004 book: Islam: Opposing Viewpoints. ^[12]

In 2004, News World Communications discontinued publication of the print magazine and hired Jeffrey T. Kuhner to run Insight as a stand-alone website. Under Kuhner, Insight did not 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:^[13]

“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. Insight is almost like an outlet, an escape valve where they can come out with this information.”

In May 2008 Insight ceased publication and said 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."

Controversies

Arlington National Cemetery controversy

In 1997 Insight reported that the administration of President Bill Clinton gave political donors rights to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This charge was widely repeated on talk radio and other conservative outlets; but was later denied by the United States Army, which has charge over Arlington Cemetery. Spurred on by the report, a subsequent flurry of media investigations turned up the burial of Larry Lawrence, a former United States Ambassador to Switzerland at Arlington, which in turn sparked a congressional investigation. Republican Party members of congress searched military records and found no evidence that Lawrence was ever in the Merchant Marine. As a result Lawrence's body was disinterred in 1997 at taxpayers' expense and moved to California. Richard Holbrooke, an assistant secretary of state, had helped attain the rights to bury Lawrence at Arlington, and had written a letter to the White House praising Lawrence and saying that he deserved burial at the National Cemetery.^[14][15][16]

Abraham Lincoln misquote

In 2003, Insight misquoted President Abraham Lincoln as saying during the American 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 repeated as if it were true, although Lincoln never said or wrote it. ^[17]

Clinton/Obama controversy in 2008 Presidential Campaign

On January 17, 2007, Insight published a story which claimed the campaign staff of American presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton had leaked a report which said that Senator Barack Obama had attended a "so-called Madrassa, or Muslim seminary" (Insight's words) during his childhood in Indonesia and that the Clinton campaign was planning to use this against him in the 2008 primary campaign. The article began: "Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage? This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama." Though based on an unsourced claim, Insight's presentation of the word "madrassa" appeared to describe an Islamic school, which the magazine went on to imply might have had an intrinsic anti-American bias, although in fact "madrassa" in Arabic simply means "school."

Soon after Insight's story, CNN reporter John Vause visited State Elementary School Menteng 01, which Obama had attended for one year after attending a Roman Catholic school for three, and found that each student received two hours of religious instruction per week in his or her own faith. He was told, "This is a public school. We don't focus on religion."^[18] Interviews by Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press found that students of all faiths have been welcome there since before Obama's attendance.^[19]

References

See also

• United States journalism scandals