The ''Washington Examiner'' is an

American conservative Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conser ...

news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of

Clarity Media Group The Anschutz Corporation is an American private holding company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, United States.Philip Anschutz. From 2005 to mid-2013, the ''Examiner'' published a daily tabloid-sized newspaper, distributed throughout the

, metro area. The newspaper focused on local news and political commentary. The local newspaper ceased publication on June 14, 2013, whereupon its content began to focus almost exclusively on national politics, from a conservative point of view, switching its print edition from a daily newspaper to an expanded print weekly magazine format.

History

The publication now known as the ''Washington Examiner'' began its life as a handful of suburban news outlets known as the Journal Newspapers, distributed not in Washington D.C. itself, but only in the suburbs of Washington: ''Montgomery Journal'', ''Prince George's Journal'', and ''Northern Virginia Journal''. Philip Anschutz purchased the parent company, Journal Newspapers Inc., in October 2004. On February 1, 2005, the paper's name changed to the ''Washington Examiner'', and it adopted a logo and format similar to those of another newspaper then owned by Anschutz, '' San Francisco Examiner''. The ''Washington Examiner'' became increasingly influential in

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 circles, hiring much of the talent from ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

''. The website ''DCist'' wrote in March 2013: "Despite the right-wing tilt of he ''Examiner'''seditorial pages and sensationalist front-page headlines, it also built a reputation as one of the best local sections in D.C." The newspaper's local coverage also gained attention, including a write-up by ''

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 ...

'', for contributing to the arrest of more than 50 fugitives through a feature that each week spotlighted a different person wanted by law enforcement agencies. In March 2013, the company announced that it would stop printing a daily edition in June and refocus on national politics. The print edition was converted to a weekly magazine, while the website was continually updated. The new format was compared to that of '' The Hill''. In December 2018, Clarity Media announced that the magazine would become a publicly available, expanded print magazine. On January 27, 2020,

Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as the 27th and 31st chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed fr ...

filed a $40 million defamation lawsuit against the ''Washington Examiner''. Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and candidate in the United States Senate special election in Alabama for the seat left open when

Jeff Sessions Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 84th United States Attorney General from 2017 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as United States ...

joined the Trump administration, claimed that the magazine repeatedly wrote "fake news" attacks stemming from

allegations In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

that he made unwanted sexual and romantic advances to girls as young as fifteen when he was in his late 30s. In January 2020, breaking news editor Jon Nicosia was fired after showing a sexually explicit video to colleagues. Nicosia denied any wrongdoing, saying he had only shared the video "because he thought it might go viral ... and become a news story." Nicosia accused managing editor

Toby Harnden Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

of abusive workplace behavior. An employee's complaint seen by CNN said that Harnden had created "toxic work environment" and a climate of "workplace terror and bullying." Editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon then announced Harnden had departed and that he was "enlisting a third-party to conduct a thorough investigation" into the ''Examiner''. CNN reported, however, that "current and former ''Examiner'' employees" said that "Gurdon was aware of Harnden's brutish managing style" long before it became a public issue, without doing anything about it. In October 2020, the ''Examiner'' hired Greg Wilson as the new managing editor. As online editor of the Fox News website, Wilson had previously published a news story supporting the conspiracy theory about murdered Democratic aide Seth Rich and Wikileaks. In June 2020, the ''Examiner'' published an op-ed by "Raphael Badani", a fake persona who was part of a broader network pushing propaganda for the United Arab Emirates and against Qatar, Turkey and Iran. 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 ...

'' reported that Badani's "profile photos are stolen from the blog of an unwitting San Diego startup founder" while his "LinkedIn profile, which described him as a graduate of George Washington and Georgetown, is equally fictitious."

Distribution and readership

The magazine's publisher said in 2013 that it would now seek to distribute the magazine to at least "45,000 government, public affairs, advocacy, academia and political professionals". The publisher also claimed the ''Examiner''s readership is more likely to sign a petition, contact a politician, attend a political rally, or participate in a government advocacy group than those of ''

Roll Call ''Roll Call'' is a newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., United States, when the United States Congress is in session, reporting news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', or ''The Hill''. Its publisher claims that the ''Examiner'' has a high-earning and highly educated audience, with 26 percent holding a

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

postgraduate degree Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

and a large percentage earning over $500,000 annually, likely to be working in

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

senior management Senior management, executive management, upper management, or a management is generally individuals at the highest level of management of an organization who have the day-to-day tasks of managing that organization—sometimes a company or a corpor ...

positions.

Notable columnists and contributors

* Kristen Soltis Anderson * Michael Barone *

Tim Cavanaugh Tim Cavanaugh is a journalist and screenwriter based in Alexandria, Virginia. He is a news editor for ''The Washington Examiner''. Prior to that, he was News Editor for '' National Review Online'', Executive Editor for ''The Daily Caller'', Managi ...

* David Freddoso *

Quin Hillyer Richard Quin Edmonson Hillyer (born March 16, 1964) is an American conservative newspaper columnist and writer. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the United States House of Representatives from Alabama's 1st congressional di ...

* Philip Klein * Julie Mason * Larry O'Connor * Tara Palmeri *

Bill Sammon Bill Sammon is a former managing editor and vice president for Fox News, as well as an author and newspaper columnist. He had previously worked as White House correspondent for ''The Washington Times'' and the ''Washington Examiner'' before joini ...

* Rudy Takala *

Geovanny Vicente Geovanny Vicente-Romero is a Dominican political strategist, lawyer, columnist, international consultant and university professor who teaches strategic communications at Columbia University as an associate lecturer. He specializes in public poli ...

Byron York Byron York (born December 5, 1955) is an American conservative correspondent, pundit, columnist, and author. Education York holds a B.A. from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and an M.A. from the University of Chicago. Career ...

Content and editorial stance

The ''Examiner'' has been described as and is widely regarded as conservative. When Anschutz first started the ''Examiner'' in its daily newspaper format, he envisioned creating a competitor to ''

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 ...

'' with a conservative editorial line. According to ''

'': "When it came to the editorial page, Anschutz's instructions were explicit – he 'wanted nothing but conservative columns and conservative op-ed writers,' said one former employee." According to 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, an ...

'', among the conservative media landscape, the ''Examiner'' "is structured more or less like a mainstream newspaper—complete with clear distinctions between news reporting and commentary roles. The outlet has one of the largest newsrooms in online conservative media, with dedicated breaking news reporters and more specialized beat reporters, and a full editorial hierarchy." According to Editor in Chief Hugo Gurdon, the paper's conservatism on the news side was largely based on story selection, citing ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' as an inspiration. The ''Examiner'' endorsed

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

in the 2008 presidential election and

Adrian Fenty Adrian Malik Fenty (born December 6, 1970) is an American politician who served as the sixth mayor of the District of Columbia. He served one term, from 2007 to 2011, losing his bid for reelection at the primary level to Democrat Vincent C. Gra ...

in the

Washington, D.C. mayoral election, 2010 On November 2, 2010, Washington, D.C., held an election for its mayor. The primary elections occurred on September 14. Vincent Gray won the general election by a wide margin, although many voters wrote in incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty, whom ...

. On December 14, 2011, the newspaper endorsed Mitt Romney for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, publishing an editorial saying he was the only Republican who could beat

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

in the general election.

Anti-immigration stories

In January 2019, the ''Washington Examiner'' published a story with the headline, "Border rancher: 'We've found prayer rugs out here. It's unreal'". Shortly thereafter, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

cited the story as another justification for a border wall amid the 2018–2019 federal government shutdown. The story in question cited one anonymous rancher who offered no evidence of these Muslim

prayer rugs Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified an ...

, such as photos. The story provided no elaboration on how the rancher knew the rugs in question were Muslim prayer rugs. The author of the story formerly worked as press secretary for the anti-immigration group

Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a non profit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immig ...

. Stories of Muslim prayer rugs at the border are

urban myths ''Urban Myths'' is a British biographical comedy drama television series first aired on 19 January 2017 on the Sky Arts. Each episode featured a story surrounding popular culture which may or may not be true, ranging from Muhammad Ali talking ...

that have frequently popped up since at least 2005, but with no evidence to substantiate the claims. The ''Examiner'' never issued a clarification or retracted the story. In April 2019, ''

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

'' reported that White House advisor Stephen Miller had been purposely leaking information on border apprehensions and asylum seekers to the ''Washington Examiner'' so that the paper would publish stories with alarming statistics that sometimes criticized DHS Secretary

Kirstjen Nielsen Kirstjen Michele Nielsen (; born May 14, 1972) is an American attorney who served as United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. She is a former principal White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump, and was ...

, which he could then show to Trump and undermine her position. Nielsen was fired in April 2019, reportedly for not being sufficiently hawkish on immigration.

Climate change

In February 2010, the ''Washington Examiner'' published an op-ed in which Michael Barone, citing the

Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as "Climategate") began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) by an external attacker, copying thousa ...

, argued that the

scientific consensus on climate change There is a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific org ...

was "propaganda" that was "based on ... shoddy and dishonest evidence." Daniel Sarewitz of

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

criticized Barone, writing that Barone and other conservative sceptics were erroneously "portray ngdeviation from scientific certainty and highly idealized notions of 'the scientific method' as evidence against climate change", which he compared to "equally naive and idealized" presentations on the other side of the debate, such as the film ''

An Inconvenient Truth ''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate people about global warming. The film features a slide show that, by Gore's own e ...

''. In 2017, the ''Washington Examiner'' editorial board supported President Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, which the ''Examiner'' editorial board described as: "a big flashy set of empty promises... The Earth's climate is changing, as it always has. And part of the reason it is changing is due to human activity. But those two facts are excuses neither for alarmism and reflexive, but ineffective action, nor for sacrificing sovereignty to give politicians a short-term buzz of fake virtue and green guerrillas another weapon with which to ambush democratic policymaking." On August 31, 2019, the ''Examiner'' published an op-ed by

Patrick Michaels Patrick J. Michaels (February 15, 1950 – July 15, 2022) was an American agricultural climatologist. Michaels was a senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute until 2019. Until 2007, he was research professor of environmental ...

and Caleb Stewart Rossiter titled, "The Great Failure of the Climate Models". It claimed that overwhelmingly accepted climate models were not valid scientific tools. Scientists described the ''Washington Examiner'' op-ed as highly misleading, noting that there were numerous false assertions and cherry-picked data in the op-ed.

Rejection of Donald Trump

On the day after former Trump White House aide

Cassidy Hutchinson Cassidy Jacqueline Hutchinson is an American former White House aide and assistant to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the Trump administration. Hutchinson testified on June 28, 2022, at the public hearings of the United States House S ...

testified before the

House select committee on the January 6 attack The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (the January 6th Committee) is a bipartisan Select or special committee (United States Congress), select committee of the U.S. House of ...

, the ''Examiner'' published an editorial entitled "Trump proven unfit for power again," writing in part:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Examiner 2005 establishments in Washington, D.C. 2013 disestablishments in Washington, D.C. 2013 establishments in Washington, D.C. Anschutz Corporation American conservative websites Climate change denial Magazines established in 2013 Magazines published in Washington, D.C. Political magazines published in the United States Publications disestablished in 2013 Newspapers established in 2005 Weekly magazines published in the United States