The ''Conservative Review'' is an American website and brand owned and operated by
Blaze Media
Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It is based in Irving, Tex ...
. It was founded in 2014 by a group of
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 in ...
political operatives. The site's stated goal is to "cut through the talking points and the smoke and mirrors ...
y employingtwo main tools: the Liberty Score and our conservative commentary."
On September 1, 2015, conservative commentator and radio host
Mark Levin
Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American lawyer, author, and radio personality. He is the host of syndicated radio show '' The Mark Levin Show'', as well as ''Life, Liberty & Levin'' on Fox News. Levin worked in the admini ...
was announced as the editor-in-chief of ''Conservative Review''. After starting his show ''
Life, Liberty & Levin'' on
Fox News Channel
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...
, Levin stepped away from his editor-in-chief position at ''Conservative Review''.
In October 2016, ''Conservative Review'' announced the launch of CRTV, an online television network, with shows by
Mark Levin
Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American lawyer, author, and radio personality. He is the host of syndicated radio show '' The Mark Levin Show'', as well as ''Life, Liberty & Levin'' on Fox News. Levin worked in the admini ...
,
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin (; Maglalang; born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative political commentator. She was a Fox News contributor and in May 2020 joined Newsmax TV. Malkin has written seven books and founded the conservative websites T ...
,
Steven Crowder
Steven Blake Crowder ( ; born July 7, 1987) is an American-Canadian conservative political commentator and media host.
Early in his career, Crowder worked for Fox News and posted satirical videos on conservative media platforms. He then began h ...
,
Mark Steyn
Mark Steyn (; born December 8, 1959) is a Canadian author and a radio and television presenter. He has written several books, including ''The New York Times'' bestsellers '' America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It'', ''After America: G ...
,
Gavin McInnes
Gavin Miles McInnes (; born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster and far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of '' Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes'', on the subscription-based streaming media platform C ...
,
Steve Deace, and
Matt Kibbe
Matthew B. Kibbe () is the President and Chief Community Organizer of Free the People, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting libertarian ideals. Prior to founding Free the People, he was the President of FreedomWorks He also worked as ...
. Steyn's show was cancelled in February 2017.
Gavin McInnes
Gavin Miles McInnes (; born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster and far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of '' Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes'', on the subscription-based streaming media platform C ...
joined the lineup in September 2017, and left in December 2018.
''
Duck Dynasty
''Duck Dynasty'' is an American reality television series that aired on A&E from 2012 to 2017. The series portrays the lives of the Robertson family, who became successful from their family-operated business, Duck Commander. The West Monroe, Lo ...
'' star
Phil Robertson joined the lineup in October 2017.
Eric Bolling
Eric Thomas Bolling (; born March 2, 1963) is an American television personality, conservative political commentator, author, and financial commentator. He has occupied numerous roles as a commentator on financial issues for television, most no ...
joined the lineup in summer 2018.
On December 3, 2018, CRTV, LLC – the owner of ''Conservative Review'' and CRTV – announced that it had merged with
TheBlaze
Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It is based in Irving, Tex ...
to form BlazeTV and the new underlying entity Blaze Media. The ''Conservative Review'' website continues to be operated separately.
Score and profiles
''Conservative Review'' assigns each federal officeholder a grade based on their "Liberty Score", which is a grade based on the top 50 votes that that officeholder has taken in the duration of a rolling 6-year window, rather than just the last election-cycle.
According to ''Conservative Review'', the rolling six-year window is "a more accurate picture of a lawmaker’s performance than traditional one- or two-year scoring methods. Scores are determined by points earned divided by potential points. Voting with the conservative position earns one point; voting against the conservative position earns nothing. Missed votes are not included in a member’s score."
Targeting of foreign policy officials
After
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 ...
took office, the ''Conservative Review'' was one of a number of conservative media outlets that engaged in a campaign to single out career government employees that they saw as being a part of a "deep state", or "so-called Obama holdovers".
The ''Conservative Review'' accused
Anne Patterson, former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, of having "fully embraced the policies of President Obama that aligned with radical Islamic actors and alienated Israel."
It said that one
State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nat ...
official was "leftist", citing as evidence retweets by the official of articles critical of Trump, but ignoring retweeted articles friendly to Trump.
Many of the articles targeting foreign policy officials were written by Jordan Schachtel, who had previously written for the far-right website ''
Breitbart News
''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an American far-rightMultiple sources:
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* syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 by ...
''.
In March 2017, the ''Conservative Review'' targeted an Iran expert at the State Department named
Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, who was involved in crafting the Iran nuclear agreement. One article of this agreement, which had suggested that she was a traitorous stooge surreptitiously working on behalf of the Iranian regime, was then forwarded by former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich to an aide of then-Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson
Rex Wayne Tillerson (born March 23, 1952) is an American engineer and energy executive who served as the 69th U.S. secretary of state from February 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, under President Donald Trump. Prior to joining the Trump admini ...
, with Gingrich writing, "I thought you should be aware of this." Internal emails show that White House staff then proceeded to look into how to fire Nowrouzzadeh, who was hired by the
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
administration, worked nearly a decade in national security, and won awards from the Departments of Defense and State, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the F.B.I, emailed her supervisor where she explained that the article was "filled with misinformation". Nowrouzzadeh noted that she was hired by the Bush administration and that "I’ve adapted my work to the policy priorities of every administration I have worked for." While serving under Secretary of State
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
, she often advocated a harsher position vis-a-vis Iran than he did. A Trump administration deputy, Edward Lacey, dismissed her email, saying she was among "Obama/Clinton loyalists not at all supportive of President Trump’s foreign policy agenda." Following the publication of the ''Conservative Review'' article, Nowrouzzadeh received death threats. Nowrouzzadeh asked the State Department to publish a rebuttal to the article, but her request was rejected. In April 2017, the State Department reassigned her to the "bureaucratic equivalent of Siberia". Nowrouzzadeh alleged unlawful discrimination, and the State Department later settled with her.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official site
American conservative websites
American news websites
Internet properties established in 2014
2014 establishments in the United States
2018 mergers and acquisitions
Paleoconservatism