Conservative students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched a new student newspaper, The Madison Federalist, Wednesday evening, to “fill the void of conservative student journalism."
In their founding statement, the Federalist said it was time for a “right-of-center” student publication.
“The Badger Herald used to be a right-wing student newspaper, or at least right of center, and just over time shifted,” Federalist Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Rothove told The Daily Cardinal. “Right now, the state of journalism on campus is two left-of-center publications and just a gigantic vacuum on the right.”
In their founding statement, the Federalist cites security fees initially charged to student organization Young Americans for Freedom, the loss of professor Ryan Owens who called the university a “toxic environment” for conservatives after his departure and the university’s decision to negotiate with pro-Palestine protesters who organized an encampment last spring as evidence of the university’s “failure to support differing opinions.”
“The university’s major student publications do good journalism, but they have occasionally failed to hold the school accountable for its left-wing excesses,” the founding statement said.
The Cardinal and the Herald are nonpartisan, independent campus news sources. In 1969, the Herald launched in direct opposition to the Cardinal’s anti-Vietnam War news and editorial coverage, ending what the Herald founders called “a monopoly” on student journalism at UW-Madison.
The Federalist receives funding from the Fund for American Studies Student Journalism Association which “supports young conservative, libertarian and independent journalists who believe in restoring objectivity to the media.” Rothove said the Fund for American Studies has been advising the Federalist to ensure the newspaper “is a sustained effort and doesn't just have three stories and then disappear again.”
Rothove cited Tripp Grebe, a UW-Madison student whose op-ed opposing defunding the police in 2020 was rejected by the Herald, as a motivation for starting an explicitly conservative newspaper. Grebe later had a column in the Cardinal and published the original opinion.
“We'd have the ability to guarantee that, as long as you're not writing about antisemitic conspiracy theory or something crazy, we will publish conservative students' voices,” Rothove said. “Yes, we are in the minority on this campus. I think that if we have a publication for conservative students, it will kind of help build a network.”
Rothove said the Federalist plans to publish campus news on their Substack and hopes to have a print magazine twice a year. He said editorials will be conservative and news coverage will have some “conservative candy” but not “be super in your face, like Fox News openly right-wing, as much as we are just a non-liberal space.”
The Federalist’s founding papers
One of the first articles, “UW-Madison sex education program promotes pornography and Planned Parenthood,” details one of the GetWise modules on sex. Freshman students are required to take one of four modules developed by University Health Services before registering for classes.
The Federalist indicated the GetWise module had a link to pornographic websites, and includes a quote from the College Republicans calling the module “inappropriate” and the university's decision to promote safe and LGBTQ+ sex a “moral judgment.”
In response, the university took down the Get Wise module to remove “the content in question while the module is being reviewed to ensure that the presentation of the topic is clear and supported by research” according to a statement obtained by the Cardinal from UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas to the Federalist.
The Federalist also planned to cover UW-Madison Students for Justice in Palestine’s “week of rage” that included several rallies during the week of Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.
Rothove tweeted that UW-Madison professor Samer Alatout complained about “Jewish supremacy” at an Oct. 7 SJP protest. Alatout responded on Twitter calling Rothove’s characterization of his quote out-of-context as “gotcha journalism.”
“The lack of care, the lack of seriousness, the lack of ethical or serious engagement with issues that dictate life and death is just staggering. Grow up,” Alatout tweeted.
Alatout’s full quote was “We fight against white supremacy, we fight against Jewish supremacy, we fight against any kind of racist supremacy.”
Rothove said Alatout’s quote is something the Federalist would focus on as an example of something “not covered in The Daily Cardinal or Badger Herald, but something people would want to see.”
“It’s just a different perspective, like what we take away from the story versus what a left-wing journalist takes away from the story. I think those perspectives kind of make you see things differently,” Rothove said.
Since the May pro-Palestine encampment, Rothove has tweeted from SJP protests and progressive campus events, mocking and criticizing young progressives. He said his journalism will be less snarky than his tweets.
The Madison Federalist is not the only student newspaper attempting to launch this fall. The Messenger sent an email to all UW-Madison students on April 23, 2024 asking students to apply. On Monday they again emailed all UW-Madison students calling on them to submit completed articles for publication.
The Messenger has yet to publish and denied the Cardinal’s request for comment until they release their issue.
Rothove is also suing the federal government over the McNair scholarship program for underrepresented students.
Noe Goldhaber is the college news editor and former copy chief for The Daily Cardinal. She is a Statistics and Journalism major and has specialized on a wide range of campus topics including protests, campus labor, student housing, free speech and campus administration. She has done data analysis and visualization for the Cardinal on a number of stories. Follow her on Twitter at @noegoldhaber.
