''The Washington Free Beacon'' is an American
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
political journalism
Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.
Political journa ...
website launched in 2012.
The website is financially backed by
Paul Singer, an American billionaire hedge fund manager and conservative activist.
History
The ''Free Beacon'' was founded by
Michael Goldfarb, Aaron Harrison, and
Matthew Continetti
Matthew Joseph Continetti (born June 24, 1981) is an American journalist and a senior fellow in Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Life and career
Continetti was born in Alexandria, Virginia. He is ...
. It launched on February 7, 2012, as a project of the
Center for American Freedom, a conservative advocacy group modeled on the liberal
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The president and chief executive officer ...
.
The site is known for its conservative reporting, with the intention of publicizing stories and influencing the coverage of the
mainstream media
In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
, and modeled after
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
counterparts in the media such as
''Think Progress'' and ''
Talking Points Memo
''Talking Points Memo'' (''TPM'') is a liberal political news and opinion website created and run by Josh Marshall that debuted on November 12, 2000. The name is a reference to the memo (short list) consisting of the issues (points) discussed by ...
''.
The site has roots in the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party.
Jack Hunter, a staff member of Senator
Rand Paul
Randal Howard Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American physician and politician serving as the junior U.S. senator from Kentucky since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is a son of former three-time presidential candidate and 12 ...
's office, resigned in 2013 after a ''Free Beacon'' report detailing his past as a pro-secessionist radio
shock jock
A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor and/or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative o ...
known as the "Southern Avenger".
[
The publication also broke several stories about ]Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
's successful 1975 legal defense of an accused child rapist that attracted national media attention.
From October 2015 to May 2016, the ''Washington Free Beacon'' hired Fusion GPS
Fusion GPS is a commercial research and strategic intelligence firm based in Washington, D.C. The company conducts open-source investigations and provides research and strategic advice for businesses, law firms and investors, as well as for ...
to conduct opposition research on "multiple candidates" during the 2016 presidential election, including Donald Trump. The ''Free Beacon'' stopped funding this research when Donald Trump had clinched the Republican nomination. Fusion GPS would later hire former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele
Christopher David Steele (born 24 June 1964) is a British former intelligence officer with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. He ran the Russia desk at MI6 headquarters in London between 2006 and 200 ...
and produce the Steele dossier
The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report written from June to December 2016, containing allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Donald Trum ...
that alleged links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Paul Singer, a billionaire and hedge fund manager, who is a major donor to the ''Free Beacon'', said he was unaware of this dossier until it was published by ''BuzzFeed News
''BuzzFeed News'' is an American news website published by BuzzFeed. It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was heavily criticized, and the FinCEN Files. Since its establishment in 2011, it ...
'' in January 2017. On October 27, 2017, the ''Free Beacon'' publicly disclosed that it had hired Fusion GPS, and stated that it "had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele."
The ''Free Beacon'' came under criticism for its reporting on Fusion GPS. Three days before it was revealed that it was the ''Free Beacon'' that had funded the work by Fusion GPS, the ''Free Beacon'' wrote that the firm's work “was funded by an unknown GOP client while the primary was still going on." The ''Free Beacon'' has published pieces that have sought to portray the work by Fusion GPS as unreliable "without noting that it considered Fusion GPS reliable enough to pay for its services." In an editor's note, Continetti said "the reason for this omission is that the authors of these articles, and the particular editors who reviewed them, were unaware of this relationship," and that the outlet was reviewing its editorial process to avoid similar issues in the future.
In 2022, a ''Free Beacon'' article by Patrick Hauf accused the administration of President Joe Biden of planning to use federal dollars to fund safe smoking kits that included crack pipes, as part of a harm reduction
Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to de ...
initiative; this prompted outrage among Republicans in Congress, some of whom proposed a bill to ban the federal government from funding drug paraphernalia.[ '']The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' later reported that, according to a United States Department of Health and Human Services
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
spokesperson, "Hauf jumped to a conclusion that was not warranted" because, while the safe smoking kits were meant to reduce risk in smoking "any illicit substance", the agency funding the program "d dnot specify the kits' elements, only the parameters"; thus, although such smoking kits often include crack pipes and (according to a Drug Policy Alliance
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City–based nonprofit organization that seeks to advance policies that “reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and b ...
spokesman interviewed for the ''Washington Post'' article) some of the groups planning to apply for the funding had assumed that its kits would also include them, it was not clear that the agency had intended to include them.
Reception
Jim Rutenberg
Jim Rutenberg is a writer at large for ''The New York Times'' and ''The New York Times Magazine''. He has written over 2,300 articles for ''The New York Times''.
Career
After finishing college in 1991, Rutenberg began working for the '' New Y ...
of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' described the reporting style of the ''Free Beacon'' as "gleeful evisceration." ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''s Conor Friedersdorf
Conor Renier Friedersdorf is an American journalist and a staff writer at ''The Atlantic'', known for his civil libertarian perspectives.
Early life and career
He attended Pomona College as an undergraduate, and attended the journalism school at ...
called the ''Free Beacon''s mission "decadent and unethical".
Ben Howe wrote in ''The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' that ''The Washington Free Beacon'' established "itself as a credible source of conservative journalism with deep investigative dives and exposes on money in politics", but after Trump's election it was "producing less actual reporting" and moved "more towards the path of least resistance: spending their time criticizing the left and the media, along with healthy doses of opinion writing." McKay Coppins
McKay Coppins (born February 2, 1987) is an American journalist and author who is a staff writer for ''The Atlantic''. In 2012, Coppins was one of the ''Forbes'' magazine's "30 under 30" media pundits and listed along with three other young ''Buzz ...
in the ''Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...
'' wrote in September 2018 that while the website contains "a fair amount of trolling... it has also earned a reputation for real-deal journalism ... If a partisan press really is the future, we could do worse than the ''Free Beacon''."
Jeet Heer
Jeet Heer is a Canadian author, comics critic, literary critic and journalist. He is a national affairs correspondent for ''The Nation'' magazine and a former staff writer at ''The New Republic''. As of 2014, he was writing a doctoral thesis at Yor ...
wrote in ''The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'': "Much of the conservative press is terrible but the ''Free Beacon'' is far superior to propagandist fare like ''The Daily Caller
''The Daily Caller'' is a right-wing news and opinion website based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by now-Fox News host Tucker Carlson and political pundit Neil Patel in 2010. Launched as a "conservative answer to ''The Huffington Post'' ...
''. Unlike other comparable conservative websites, the ''Free Beacon'' makes an effort to do original reporting. Its commitment to journalism should be welcomed by liberals." In 2015, ''Mother Jones
Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
'' wrote positively of the ''Free Beacon'', commenting that it is far better than contemporary conservative outlets such as ''The Daily Caller''. ''Mother Jones'' however said that "the ''Beacon'' hasn't always steered clear of stories that please the base but don't really stand up," and that it tends towards inflammatory pieces that "push conservatives' buttons". That same year, the '' Washingtonian'' wrote that "''The Beacon''s emphasis on newsgathering sets it apart among right-facing publications."
In 2019, Eliana Johnson
Eliana Yael Johnson (born c. 1984) is an American journalist and Editor-in-Chief of ''Washington Free Beacon''.
Early life and education
Johnson is the daughter of Sally (née Zusman) and Scott W. Johnson, one of the three Dartmouth lawyers w ...
left ''Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' to become Editor-in-Chief of the ''Free Beacon''. Ben Smith wrote in ''BuzzFeed News
''BuzzFeed News'' is an American news website published by BuzzFeed. It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was heavily criticized, and the FinCEN Files. Since its establishment in 2011, it ...
'' that the ''Free Beacon'' was " ternately parodic and wire-service serious," and had "broken major political news, mostly negative" (although its focus was mainly directed against Democrats). Smith continued that the ''Free Beacon''s hard news reporting differentiated it from other conservative outlets which were either opinion focused or did not produce journalism which met mainstream standards.
See also
* Alternative media (U.S. political right)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Free Beacon
American political websites
News aggregators
American conservative websites
American political blogs
Conservative media in the United States
Criticism of journalism
American news websites
Political organizations based in the United States
American journalism organizations
Internet properties established in 2012
Online magazines published in the United States