 | |
 October 14, 2024 cover | |
| Editor | Gary Benoit |
|---|---|
| Categories | Magazine, Internet |
| Frequency | Semimonthly |
| Publisher | Dennis Behreandt |
| Total circulation (2021) | 20,194 |
| First issue | September 30, 1985 |
| Company | American Opinion Publishing |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Appleton, Wisconsin |
| Language | English |
| Website | thenewamerican |
| ISSN | 0885-6540 |
The New American is a right-wing (sometimes described as far-right) print magazine published twice a month and a digital news source published daily online by American Opinion Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the John Birch Society. The magazine was created in 1985 from the merger of two John Birch Society publications: American Opinion and The Review of the News.
History
In February 1956, before founding the John Birch Society over two years later, Robert W. Welch Jr. created his first publication, a monthly entitled One Man's Opinion, which became known two years later as American Opinion. Additionally, in 1965, he established a John Birch Society-affiliated publication known as The Review of the News, which was intended for a larger readership and covered news.
In September 1985, American Opinion was merged with The Review of the News to create The New American, with the aim of attracting a readership large enough to "make the saving of our country possible." The magazine's name was inspired by Robert Welch's "New Americanism" essay. It was first headquartered in Belmont, Massachusetts.
The version of anticommunism espoused by the John Birch Society in The New American has alleged that American sovereignty and freedom are threatened by a conspiracy of powerful "Insiders" who are purportedly moving toward control of a world government in a new world order. As described by the academic Charles J. Stewart, articles in the magazine in the 1980s and 1990s argued that the collapse of communism in the Eastern Bloc at the end of the Cold War was a tactical move in the conspiracy and a "jump forward in the development of socialism". The magazine has alleged that such a conspiracy also animates the United Nations, the European Union, and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In 2006, The New American launched a mobile edition. In 2007, The New American published a special issue devoted to opposing a purported North American Union, and approximately 500,000 copies were distributed; Political Research Associates and the Southern Poverty Law Center described such descriptions of an imminent loss of American sovereignty in a merger with Canada and Mexico as a conspiracy theory.
In September 2019, during the Trump–Ukraine scandal, Hunter Biden's Misplaced Pages article included dubious claims about his business dealings in Ukraine and his father Joe Biden's motivations for going after a Ukrainian prosecutor; the claims were sourced to The Epoch Times and The New American.
Editorial stance and notable coverage
The New American has described what it sees as American moral decline, including abortion, drugs, homosexuality, crime, violence, teenage pregnancy, teen suicide, feminism, and pornography—all of which, it has said, are undermining the family and by extension the American republic. Such emphases have made the John Birch Society attractive to the religious right in the United States.
The New American publishes the Freedom Index, which rates members of Congress and state legislators “based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.”
Contributors have included Hilaire du Berrier, Samuel Blumenfeld, Larry McDonald, and Ron Paul. The magazine has interviewed members of Congress including Andy Biggs, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Ronny Jackson.
References
- The New American. Wisconsin: American Opinion Publishing. October 1, 2021.
- Biraghi, Silvia; Gambetti, Rossella C.; Quigley, Steve (July 5, 2020). "Brand Purpose as a Cultural Entity Between Business and Society". In Marques, Joan; Dhiman, Satinder (eds.). Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility. Springer International. p. 412. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-39676-3_26. ISBN 978-3-030-39676-3. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
Likewise, far-right magazine The New American attacked the message of the commercial arguing that it "reflects many false suppositions" and adding that "Men are the wilder sex, which accounts for their dangerousness – but also their dynamism."
- ^ Stanley-Becker, Isaac (September 25, 2019). "Checking the Web on Hunter Biden? A 36-year-old physicist helps decide what you'll see". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- Levine, Deborah; Brenman, Marc (November 15, 2019). "The Local–Global Context". When Hate Groups March Down Main Street: Engaging a Community Response. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-3266-1 – via Google Books.
...there are fierce objections on the extreme right to initiatives related to international collaboration. This attitude is typified by The New American (TNA), a print magazine published by American Opinion Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of the John Birch Society (JBS), a far-right organization.
- Mulloy, D. J. (2014). The World of the John Birch Society: Conspiracy, Conservatism, and the Cold War. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. pp. 6, 187. ISBN 978-0826519818.
- OCLC 1713996
- ISSN 0885-6540 OCLC 12618341
- OCLC 12803345
- The New American, January 5, 1987 Letter from the Editor
- "The John Birch Society". Wisconsin. October 9, 1985. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
- The New Americanism: And Other Speeches and Essays (1966). Belmont, Mass.: Western Islands. ISBN 978-0882792118. OCLC 7351053.
- ^ Stewart 2002, p. 434–439.
- Barbagallo, Paul (June 1, 2006). "The New American Goes Mobile". Adweek. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Berlet, Chip (March 10, 2008). "The North American Union Right-Wing Populist Conspiracism Rebounds". Political Research Associates. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
- "Exploring Nativist Conspiracy Theories Including The 'North American Union' and The Plan de Aztlan". Southern Poverty Law Center. July 1, 2007. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023.
- Stewart, Charles J. (2002). "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order". Western Journal of Communication. 66 (4): 440. doi:10.1080/10570310209374748. S2CID 145081268. Archived from the original on November 4, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- Wolfson, Leo (August 17, 2023). "John Birch Society Says Wyoming Part Of Conservative Resurgence". Cowboy State Daily. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
- "The Freedom Index". The Freedom Index. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
- "The New American 20 years of truth!". Wisconsin: American Opinion Publishing Inc. September 19, 2005. Archived from the original on February 22, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- Calabro, Elaina Plott (February 23, 2024). "The Return of the John Birch Society". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 27, 2024.