View source for The Spotlight

{{for|the community newspapers in Upstate New York|Spotlight Newspapers}}

'''''The Spotlight''''' was a weekly [[newspaper]] in the United States, published in [[Washington, D.C.]] from September 1975 to July 2001 by the now-defunct antisemitic [[Liberty Lobby]].<ref>Michael, George ''Confronting Right-wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA '' [[Routledge]] (31 Jul 2003) ISBN 978-0-415-31500-5  p. 17</ref> ''The Spotlight'' ran articles and editorials professing a "[[populism|populist]] and [[nationalism|nationalist]]" political orientation. Some observers have described the publication as promoting a [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]], or conservative, politics.<ref name="ADF: Carto"/>

==Description==
''The Spotlight'' has been described in media reports as promoting an [[Isolationism|America First]] position and giving positive coverage to the political campaigns of [[Pat Buchanan]] and [[David Duke]].<ref>Campbell, Linda.  "Liberty Lobby in the Spotlight with Duke, Buchanan In Race", ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', January 12, 1992</ref>  ''The Spotlight'' gave frequent coverage to [[alternative medicine|complementary and alternative medicine]], including advertisements for the purported anti-[[cancer]] supplement [[Laetrile]].<ref>Anderson, Jack and Whitten, Les. "Liberty Lobby Bootlegs Laetrile".  ''[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]]'', August 16, 1977</ref>  Kevin J. Flynn's book ''The Silent Brotherhood'' described ''The Spotlight'' as regularly featuring "articles on such topics as [[Bible]] analysis, taxes and fighting the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]], bankers and how they bleed the middle class, and how the nation is manipulated by the dreaded [[Trilateral Commission]] and [[Council on Foreign Relations]]", adding "the paper attracted a huge diversity of readers".<ref>Flynn, Kevin J. and Gary Gerhardt, ''The Silent Brotherhood'', Free Press, 1989, ISBN 0-02-910312-6 p. 85</ref>  [[NameBase]] described the newspaper as "anti-elitist, opposed the [[Gulf War]], wanted the [[JFK assassination]] reinvestigated, and felt that corruption and conspiracies can be found in high places"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.namebase.org/sources/FS.html |title=Spotlight Newspaper |author= |date= |work=[[NameBase]] |publisher= |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/64k7reOR5 |archivedate=2012-01-16 |accessdate=2010-05-04}}</ref>

==Circulation==
Circulation of ''The Spotlight'' peaked in 1981 at 315,000 but fell to about 90,000 by 1992.<ref>George, John and Wilcox, Laird. ''[[Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe]]'', [[Prometheus Books]], p. 260</ref> 

==Critical reaction==
''The Spotlight'' was called "the most widely read publication on the fringe right" by the [[Anti-Defamation League]], who also stated the newspaper "reflected [[Willis Carto|Carto]]'s [[conspiracy theory]] of history" and called the paper [[antisemitism|anti-Semitic]].<ref name="ADF: Carto">[http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/carto.asp?xpicked=2&item=carto Willis Carto], Anti-Defamation League website, accessed 4 May 2010</ref>

Interestingly "The Spotlight"'s logo and masthead matches that of the early twentieth century Klan newspaper [[Searchlight]].{{fact|date=October 2012}}

[[Howard J. Ruff]] in his 1979 book ''How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years'' praised ''The Spotlight'' for its investigative reporting while criticizing it for a "blatantly biased" right-wing point of view and concluded "there are many things I detest about it, but I wouldn't be without it."<ref>Ruff, Howard J. ''How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years'', New York: Time Books, 1979</ref>

U.S. Congressman and [[John Birch Society]] leader [[Larry McDonald]] criticized ''The Spotlight'' in the ''[[Congressional Record]]'' in 1981 for purported use of the [[Lyndon LaRouche]] movement as a source of news items.<ref>McDonald, Larry. "Why Does Spotlight Attack the Real Anti-Communists?".  ''Congressional Record'', Vol. 127, No. 123, September 9, 1981.  Posted online at http://www.knology.net/~bilrum/cr127p1.htm</ref>

==Controversies==
===Lawsuit by E. Howard Hunt===
An August 1978 article published in ''The Spotlight'' by [[Victor Marchetti]] sparked a defamation lawsuit against Liberty Lobby from former [[CIA]] agent [[E. Howard Hunt]] because the article implicated Hunt as being involved in the assassination of President [[John F. Kennedy]].<ref>[http://openjurist.org/707/f2d/1493/hunt-v-liberty-lobby-inc 707 F2d 1493 Hunt v. Liberty Lobby], United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.</ref> Lawyer and conspiracy author [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]] successfully defended Liberty Lobby against the defamation charges,<ref>[http://openjurist.org/824/f2d/916/hunt-v-l-marchetti-dc 824 F2d 916 Hunt v. Marchetti], United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.</ref> which became the basis for Lane's book ''[[Plausible Denial]]''.

===Timothy McVeigh===
After the [[Oklahoma City bombing]] it was reported that [[Timothy McVeigh]] had taken out a [[classified advertisement]] in ''The Spotlight'' in August 1993 under the name "T. Tuttle"<ref>"Newspaper Focuses on Conspiracy Theories", ''[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]'', June 11, 1995.</ref> and had used a [[telephone card]] purchased from the newspaper.<ref>"Spotlight on ''The Spotlight''", ''[[Newsweek]]'', May 15, 1995</ref>

==End of publication==
''The Spotlight'' ceased publication in 2001 after Liberty Lobby was forced into [[bankruptcy]] as a result of a lawsuit brought by former associates in the [[Institute for Historical Review]].<ref>"Liberty Lobby Goes Under, Ends Spotlight Publication".  ''[[Washington Times]]'', July 10, 2001</ref>  [[Willis Carto]] and other people involved in ''The Spotlight'' then started a new newspaper, the ''[[American Free Press]]'', which is very similar in overall tone.  An August 2, 2002 court order in the [[Superior Court of California]] transferred the assets of Liberty Lobby, including ''The Spotlight'', to the judgment creditor, the Legion for the Survival of Freedom, Inc.<ref>Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, North County Division.  Assignment Order: Legion for the Survival of Freedom, Inc. v. Willis Carto et al., Posted online at http://www.libertylobby.org/legal_notice.html</ref> who maintains an online archive of ''Spotlight'' articles from 1997 to 2001.<ref>http://www.libertylobby.org/news_archive.html</ref>

==Other activities==
From 1988 to 2001, the paper sponsored the ''Radio Free America'' talk show which was heard on [[WWCR]] [[shortwave]] and on AM [[talk radio]] outlets.

==Notable reporters and columnists==
* [[Martin A. Larson]] - regular column "Our World In Conflict"
* [[Michael Collins Piper]]
* [[Jim Tucker (journalist)]] - wrote on the [[Bilderberg Group]]

==See also==
* [[Alternative media (U.S. political right)]]
* [[Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.]]
* ''[[Barnes Review]]''
* [[Ron Paul newsletters]] <!--Added because Ron Paul had used a mailing list from the Spotlight. See: {{cite news |last1 =Markon | first1 =Jerry |last2=Crites |first2=Alice |title=Paul Pursued Strategy of Publishing Controversial Newsletters, Associates Say |work=The Washington Post |date=2012-01-27 |url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ron-paul-signed-off-on-racist-newsletters-sources-say/2012/01/20/gIQAvblFVQ_story.html |accessdate= 2012-01-31}} Perhaps this reference can be woven into the main article text. -->

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/denial.htm Implausible Assertions: Did Mark Lane Convince a Jury that E. Howard Hunt was a Kennedy Assassination Conspirator?]
*[http://www.libertylobby.org/ Sample articles from The SPOTLIGHT by Liberty Lobby, 1997 to 2001.]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spotlight}}
[[Category:Defunct newspapers of Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Assassination of John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Defunct weekly newspapers]]
[[Category:Publications established in 1975]]
[[Category:Publications disestablished in 2001]]
[[Category:Weekly newspapers published in the United States]]