Editor Stephen F. Hayes Publisher Terry Eastland Company Clarity Media Group | Frequency Weekly Total circulation
(December 2012) 104,682 | |
First issue September 1995 (1995-September) | ||
The Weekly Standard is an American conservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title on September 18, 1995. Originally edited by founders William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of neoconservatism" and as "the neo-con bible." It is currently owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, itself a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation.
Contents
Many of the magazine's articles are written by members of conservative think tanks located in Washington: the American Enterprise Institute, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Hudson Institute, as well as the Foreign Policy Initiative. Individuals who have written for the magazine include Elliott Abrams, Peter Berkowitz, John R. Bolton, Ellen Bork, David Brooks, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Christopher Hitchens, Harvey Mansfield, Cynthia Ozick, Joe Queenan, and John Yoo. The magazine's website also produces regular online-only commentaries and news articles.
Ownership change
Although the publication had, as of 2006, never been profitable and reputedly lost "more than a million dollars a year," News Corporation head Rupert Murdoch had previously dismissed the idea of selling it. In June 2009, a report circulated that a sale of the publication to Philip Anschutz was imminent, with Murdoch's position being that, having purchased The Wall Street Journal in 2007, his interest in the smaller publication had diminished. The Washington Examiner reported that the Examiner's parent company, the Anschutz-owned Clarity Media Group, had purchased the Standard. After the sale to the Clarity Media Group, the Standard increased its paid circulation by 39 percent between its June 2009 and June 2010 BPA statements.
Deepak Chopra case
In 1997, nearly a year after a cover story that included allegations of hiring a prostitute and plagiarism against best-selling author Deepak Chopra, the editors of The Weekly Standard accepted full responsibility for "errors" in their report. The editors stated: "We apologize to Dr. Chopra and to our readers. We regret any harm that may unjustly have been done to Dr. Chopra's reputation. We trust that this correction and apology will help in repairing any such harm, and will set the record straight." In acknowledging that "the general tone of our article was unfair to Dr. Chopra," the editors concluded: "We believe that Dr. Chopra is sincere and forthright in his teachings, and regret our publication of allegations about Dr. Chopra that we now believe to be erroneous." They added, “We also would no longer state that his company’s herbal remedies have high levels of bug parts and rodent hairs or levels higher than other such organic products.” Chopra claimed the magazine settled for $1.6 million.