Insight On The News - Background and History

Background and History

In 1991 Insight was one of the first publications to use the word "Islamophobia". In 1997 Insight reported that the administration of President Bill Clinton gave political donors rights to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This charge was widely repeated on talk radio and other conservative outlets; but was later denied by the United States Army, which has charge over Arlington Cemetery. Media investigations turned up the burial of M. Larry Lawrence, a former United States Ambassador to Switzerland at Arlington, which led to a congressional investigation. Republican Party members of congress searched military records and found no evidence that Lawrence was ever in the Merchant Marine. As a result Lawrence's body was disinterred in 1997 at taxpayers' expense and moved to California. Richard Holbrooke, an assistant secretary of state, had helped obtain the rights to bury Lawrence at Arlington, and had written a letter to the White House praising Lawrence and saying that he deserved burial at the National Cemetery.

In 1998 CNN reported that Insight "created a stir" when Paula Jones, who had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton, was the magazine's guest at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner where Clinton spoke. In 1999 Insight criticized Project Megiddo, an FBI report on possible right-wing terrorism predicted for the year 2000. In 2000, Insight published a cover story listing what it considered the top 15 colleges in the United States. The list included 3 state-owned schools, 2 evangelical Christian schools, 3 Presbyterian schools, 3 Roman Catholic schools, and 4 secular private schools.

In 2001 Insight published a story on the Soviet Union's shoot-down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 which claimed that both the Soviet and American governments had covered up information about the incident. In the same year it printed an article by Dan Smith which said that immigration and an ethnicly diverse population helped to protect the United States against terrorism. This article was reprinted as a chapter in the 2004 book Terrorism: Opposing Viewpoints.

In 2002 Insight printed a story by Washington Times reporter Steve Miller saying that African Americans were doing well economically. This story was reprinted in the 2005 book Race Relations: Opposing Viewpoints. In 2004 Insight printed an article by Abdulwahah Alkebsi defending the role of Islam in bringing democracy to the Middle East. The story was reprinted as a chapter in the 2004 book: Islam: Opposing Viewpoints.

In 2003, Insight misquoted President Abraham Lincoln as saying during the American Civil War: "Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged." By 2008, this statement was being repeated as if it were true, although Lincoln never said or wrote it.

In 2004, News World Communications discontinued publication of the print magazine and hired Jeffrey T. Kuhner to run Insight as a stand-alone website. Under Kuhner, Insight did not identify its reporters, in what Kuhner described as an effort to encourage contributions from sources who "do not want to reveal their names". Kuhner said about this:

“Reporters in Washington know a whole lot of what is going on and feel themselves shackled and prevented from reporting what they know is going on. Insight is almost like an outlet, an escape valve where they can come out with this information.”