The Life and Death of the American Spectator

The Atlantic Monthly ^ | November, 2001 | Byron York

[LurkerNoMore!]

It is the end of an era.

I have every American Spectator mag since Jan '93. One of my favorites is the Sept '95 edition, when James Ring Adams first educated me about the Riady connection and the coming campaign finance scandal.... TAS was so far ahead of the mainstream media it was sad.

[keithtoo]

Great post. I started reading The American Spectator way back in 1984 after a guy at the pool at the apartment complex I was living in, saw me reading my National Review and recommended that I check out TAS which was 'just as conservative and a little less Catholic'. I had been reading and subscribing ever since up until a few years ago.

I've been sad to see the magazine go.

[murdoog]

This is one of the saddest articles I have ever read on FR. I have been reading TAS since the 80's...I read about AIDS in there before it was even called AIDS!!

[Luis Gonzalez]

It is indeed. I did not become a reader until recently. Sorry to see them go.

[HHFi]

Interesting but sad tale. I was a longtime subscriber to the Spectator, but I certainly didn't let my subscription lapse because I thought they went after Clinton too much or were "out of touch" with all the idiots who blindly supported him (and who are now heaving a collective gasp as the vibrations from the WTC explosions shake the scales from their eyes). I only let my subscription lapse when Gilder changed it, and I was disappointed that it would no longer be the sharp-edged conservative magazine that I loved. I wanted more politics, not less. I hope Tyrell & company find another outlet, and soon.

[murdoog]

On April 9 Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder wrote to Kenneth Starr recommending an investigation of the bait-shop allegations. Starr appointed the former Justice Department official Michael Shaheen to look into the matter. The decision meant that the Spectator, already barely able to pay its bills, would have to hire a lawyer to defend it in an open-ended probe.

Is it much of a stretch from this to say that the Clinton Administration used the Justice Department to put a publication critical of it out of business?

[Luis Gonzalez]

FYI

[AUsome Joy]

I am/was still a subscriber. I had decided to let my subscription run out because of the new format. It wasn't the same magazine as I had enjoyed before. I used to devour every article, but recently found it hard to find anything to read, except for Ben Stein.

[murdoog]

TAS was so far ahead of the mainstream media it was sad.

And to hear Byron York tell it, you'd think this was a bad thing. He's almost as bad as David Brock.

[habs4ever]

A fond farewell from another longtime subscriber and fan.What a shame and sad article to read.Hubris did them in.Damn.

[LurkerNoMore!]

I have to disagree. Byron York is pure conservative class, and will never be another David Brock.

[VietVet]

Gone? Destroyed? How very odd. I have in my hands the September/October Issue of TAS. Doesn't look defunct to me.

[an amused spectator]

Is it much of a stretch from this to say that the Clinton Administration used the Justice Department to put a publication critical of it out of business?

Is it much of a stretch to say that the Clinton Administration used certain national newspapers to try to put a website critical of it out of business? ;-)

[clintonh8r]

R.I.P., T.A.S.

[Tribune7]

That's true. I came to conclude that Tyrrell's crtics were wimps when they started ganging on with criticism about the Arkansas reporting.

[Tribune7]

I liked the old Spectator. But I like the new one too.

[aruanan]

I have subscribed for a good part of the time since the 80's. I have not renewed. Did those who purchased the magazine actually think that they could make it into something else and everyone would just stay on board? What were they thinking?

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks for posting this excellent article, Luis. The American Spectator was a great magazine. "Why couldn't Tyrrell see that the project-which involved nonjournalists and a private detective funded by a third party-was an extraordinarily dangerous proposition for any journalistic enterprise? Perhaps because Tyrrell never saw the Spectator solely as a journalistic enterprise. Since the early days in Bloomington, Tyrrell had envisioned The Alternative as an adjunct to a political movement." I think this was the Achilles heel of their downfall.

[murdoog]

I have to disagree. Byron York is pure conservative class, and will never be another David Brock

I'll admit my David Brock comment was over the line. I don't know what this says about me, but the topic of this thread is a rather emotional one for me and I let my feelings get the better of me.

I don't retract all of my criticism of York.It does seem as if he's blaming TAS's Clinton coverage for it's demise, when that was its crowning glory. There is a touch of "oh I'm not like those Clinton-hating nuts" in his article. It's almost as if he was trying to win the Strange New Respect award.