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The New American

Type:

Website
Parent Organization:

John Birch Society

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The New American is a right-leaning print and online news publication that is owned and operated by the John Birch Society, a right-of-center to far-right organization that was best known for staunch anti-communist stances including the circulation of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about Republican President and World War II hero Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s and 1960s. 12

The New American and the John Birch Society have received criticism from both left and right leaning sources, including the late William F. Buckley, Jr. and National Review, for being a “far-right”3 publication. 4 It is rated as having a right bias by Media Bias Fact Check, which also rates it as having a “mixed” rating for factual content. 5

Background

The New American was founded in 1985 and is currently published in print twice a month and posts articles to its website daily. The publication is published by American Opinion Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of the John Birch Society. 6

The New American is currently a major component of the operations of The John Birch Society (JBS). The John Birch Society was founded in 1958 by businessman Robert Welch, who owned a candy company. Welch named the society after John Birch, an American Baptist missionary and military intelligence officer who was killed by Chinese Communist soldiers in 1945. Welch wrote a biography of Birch in 1954 and claimed that Birch was the first casualty of the Cold War and an avowed anti-communist. Birch’s mother, also a Christian missionary, gave Welch permission to use her son’s name for the organization, although she preferred such an organization to be more religion-focused than political. 7

While the JBS still exists, the heyday of the John Birch Society was during the height of the Cold War in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The society held prominence on the American right during that time, with its membership ranks consisting of many large donors to conservative causes, including Fred Koch, the founder of Koch industries and father of right-leaning businessmen and donors Charles Koch and David Koch. 8

The John Birch Society’s membership peaked in the 1960s, during which time it was headquartered in Massachusetts near the Welch family’s candy company. During this time the organization published the predecessor to The New American, American Opinion. The main focuses of the organization at the time included efforts to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations, cancel U.S.-Soviet summits, and impeach U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. 9

As the John Birch Society grew, its relations with the conservative movement became strained, as more and more prominent conservative leaders charged the society’s founder Robert Welch with being an extremist and conspiracy theorist. National Review editor William F. Buckley, Jr. authored several columns highly critical of the society’s leadership, stating that while many members of the society were upstanding citizens, they were being misled by Welch. Buckley further questioned how the society’s members could tolerated the “paranoid and unpatriotic drivel”10 coming from the society’s leadership. 11

During his 1964 presidential campaign, Barry Goldwater tried to thread a needle of receiving support from many of the wealthy society members while being critical of Welch’s rhetoric. The society suffered a blow with Richard Nixon’s ascension to the White House, given that the society had repeatedly attacked Nixon during his various campaigns for office. The society was additionally furious over Nixon’s visit to China, which became a defining moment of his presidency. 12

The John Birch Society founded The New American in 1985, when it combined two existing magazines: American Opinion, which was published monthly, and The Review of the News, which was published weekly. 13

Activity

The New American publishes content from a right-leaning editorial point of view. The New American also publishes a congressional scorecard, which scores members of Congress from 0 to 100 based on their votes on legislation. The publication takes a position on dozens of bills annually and opposed both impeachments of President Donald Trump and most international trade agreements, along with other positions aligning with a nationalist-conservative viewpoint. Rep Thomas Massie (R-KY) is the only member with a 100% score from The New American during 2020, and has a 98% lifetime score. Other high scorers on The New American’s scorecard include Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), Rep Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ). 14

The New American has faced claimed that it has published misinformation and misleading stories. The publication has a rating of making “mixed”15 for presenting factual statements by Media Bias Fact Check, which has given the publication a credibility rating of “medium credibility.” 16

Recent fact checks of The New American that were marked as “failed” by Media Bias Fact Check were both related to COVID-19, with one article claiming that the CDC stated that masks do not protect against the virus, and another claim questioning the need for a COVID-19 vaccine not being necessary unlike the smallpox vaccine being marked as “unsupported.” 17

Other articles concerning COVID-19 that The New American has published included unsubstantiated claims that vaccinated individuals could be “shedding” proteins that could hurt unvaccinated people and cause pregnancy complications,18 claims that have been debunked by the Centers for Disease Control as well as private medical organizations. 19

Another claim from The New American regarding COVID-19 vaccines was that the vaccine had killed untold numbers of individuals,20 claims that have not been supported in research conducted at research centers and by public health agencies across the world. 21

Structure

Unlike other advocacy organizations, The New American’s parent company, The John Birch Society, is structured as a for-profit corporation. 22 The organization states that its founder, Robert Welch, eschewed tax-exempt status in an effort to further protect the organization’s privacy. 23 The organization does operate several nonprofit entities, including the American Opinion Foundation,24 the FreedomProject Academy, and the Law Enforcement Charitable Foundation. 25

People

The editor of The New American is Gary Benoit, who has been on the staff of the John Birch Society since 1977 and became the first editor of the publication right after its founding in 1985. 26

References

  1. “About.” The New American. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://thenewamerican.com/about/
  2. Buckley, William F. “Goldwater, the John Birch Society, and Me.” Commentary Magazine, March 2008. https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/william-buckley-jr/goldwater-the-john-birch-society-and-me/.
  3. Regnery, Alfred S. Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism. New York: Threshold Editions, 2009. https://books.google.com/books?id=Sag0i4r-Ic8C&pg=PA79#v=onepage&q&f=false
  4. Regnery, Alfred. “Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism.” Pg. 79. Simon and Shuster.  https://books.google.com/books?id=Sag0i4r-Ic8C&pg=PA79#v=onepage&q&f=false
  5. “The New American.” Media Bias Fact Check. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-new-american/
  6. “About.” The New American. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://thenewamerican.com/about/
  7. Mallon, Thomas. “A View from the Fringe: The John Birch Society and the rise of the radical right.” The New Yorker. January 3, 2016. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/11/a-view-from-the-fringe
  8. Mallon, Thomas. “A View from the Fringe: The John Birch Society and the rise of the radical right.” The New Yorker. January 3, 2016. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/11/a-view-from-the-fringe
  9. Mallon, Thomas. “A View from the Fringe: The John Birch Society and the rise of the radical right.” The New Yorker. January 3, 2016. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/11/a-view-from-the-fringe
  10. Regnery, Alfred. “Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism.” Pg. 79. Simon and Shuster.  https://books.google.com/books?id=Sag0i4r-Ic8C&pg=PA79#v=onepage&q&f=false
  11. Regnery, Alfred. “Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism.” Pg. 79. Simon and Shuster.  https://books.google.com/books?id=Sag0i4r-Ic8C&pg=PA79#v=onepage&q&f=false
  12. Mallon, Thomas. “A View from the Fringe: The John Birch Society and the rise of the radical right.” The New Yorker. January 3, 2016. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/11/a-view-from-the-fringe
  13. “History.” The John Birch Society. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://jbs.org/about/history/
  14. “Freedom Index.” The New American. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://thenewamerican.com/freedom-index/#/
  15. “The New American.” Media Bias Fact Check. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-new-american/
  16. “The New American.” Media Bias Fact Check. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-new-american/
  17. “The New American.” Media Bias Fact Check. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-new-american/
  18. Newman, Alex. “COVID Vaccine Shedding Hurting Unvaxed? Dr. Lee Merritt Explains.” The New American. May 19. 2021. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://thenewamerican.com/covid-vaccine-shedding-hurting-unvaxed-dr-lee-merritt-explains/
  19. “Fact Check-COVID vaccines do not ‘shed’ from one person to another and then cause reproductive problems.” Reuters. April 23, 2021. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-covid19vaccine-reproductivepro/fact-check-covid-vaccines-do-not-shed-from-one-person-to-another-and-then-cause-reproductive-problems-idUSL1N2MG256
  20. Newman, Alex. “COVID Shot Killing Large Numbers, Warns Top COVID Doc Peter McCullough.” The New American. April 27. 2021. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://thenewamerican.com/covid-shot-killing-large-numbers-warns-top-covid-doc-peter-mccullough/
  21. “Fact Check-No evidence COVID-19 vaccines will cause an ‘exponential rise’ in deaths.”  Reuters. April 29, 2021. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vaccines-casualties/fact-check-no-evidence-covid-19-vaccines-will-cause-an-exponential-rise-in-deaths-idUSL1N2MM2B4
  22. “IRS Form 990.” American Opinion Foundation. 2019. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/203968122/202020209349300707/full
  23. “Donate.” The John Birch Society. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://jbs.org/donate/
  24. “IRS Form 990.” American Opinion Foundation. 2019. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/203968122/202020209349300707/full
  25. “Donate.” The John Birch Society. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://jbs.org/donate/
  26. “Staff.” The New American. Accessed May 26, 2021. https://thenewamerican.com/staff/
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