The Washington Times on Thursday launches American CurrentSee, a free weekly digital magazine for conservative black Americans. The magazine, available at www.americancurrentsee.com, aims to empower its readers to embrace an agenda of economic opportunity, moral leadership and freedom from government dependency.
The Times said Dr. Ben Carson, the world-renowned neurosurgeon whose entrance into politics has excited conservatives nationwide, will serve as founding publisher and Armstrong Williams, who is an entrepreneur, a TV and radio host and a nationally syndicated columnist, will serve as executive editor.
They will work with an advisory board comprised of business, community and church leaders who will offer insights and strategies for coverage, business models and community outreach.
American CurrentSee is built on a mobile-friendly HTML 5 platform that works on laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones and re-creates the intimate reading experience of a newsmagazine while leveraging the capabilities of mobile devices. It can also be installed on desktops like an app. The Times plans to offer official apps in Google and Apple stores this spring.
An edition will be published each Sunday morning, and readers will be alerted to the fresh content via email.
In an email announcing the inaugural edition of American CurrentSee, Dr. Carson said he was inspired to provide an alternative source of news and thought leadership to a community that for too long has been treated by the mainstream media as politically and ideologically monolithic.
“The ruling elite has convinced too many young adults that it’s OK to stay at home and live in your parents’ basements playing video games or aimlessly roaming the streets with friends. After all, you can get a monthly check, a free cell phone and health insurance from Uncle Sam for doing nothing,” Dr. Carson wrote. “Opportunity has been replaced by despair. Embracing character, values, marriage and family has been ridiculed. Government dependence has been substituted for self-reliance. And mediocrity has replaced excellence.
“We need a new media source that embraces hard work, moral character, family values, good education and self-reliance and inspires the next generation with role models who have cast off the chains of mediocre expectations and proven that the American dream is alive and well.”
The Washington Times is providing American CurrentSee with editorial, technological, marketing and sales support.
“We are thrilled to launch this publication and to inject new perspectives into a debate longing for fresh leadership,” said Larry Beasley, president and chief executive officer of The Times. “We believe American CurrentSee can find common ground, shared principles and solutions for community, church and business leaders looking for a new path to restore the American dream.”
John Solomon, The Times’ editor and vice president for content and business development, and Mr. Williams said American CurrentSee has lined up an all-star cast of writers in the black community.
“We have selected thought leaders who can analyze, critique and inspire readers to see a future where prosperity, self-reliance and character win the day inside a community brimming with opportunity and tired of mediocre expectations,” Mr. Williams said.
The inaugural March 30 edition of American CurrentSee debuted early Thursday with essays and articles from, among others, Dr. Carson, Mr. Williams, Fox News analyst Juan Williams and A.R. Bernard, founder and senior pastor of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn.
• THE WASHINGTON TIMES can be reached at 125932@example.com.
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