Beehive Standard Weekly

The "Beehive Standard Weekly" is a conservative political and cultural news service for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for those curious about the Mormon culture.

History

It originates from a newsletter called "The Beehive", which began in 1975 as a 12-page circular in Las Vegas, Nevada, started by Charlene and Richard Taylor for a group of local women who attended the same congregation. At first, it covered only local religious events and activities. Circulation increased throughout the Las Vegas Valley, and in 1990, the Taylors' son Russell took over, overseeing the creation of an "Arizona Beehive" in 1993.

In 2002, the "Nevada Beehive" was acquired by Las Vegas-based attorney Rob Graham who continued the growth of the publication as well as its readership base by providing popular content for a more general audience. The Taylor family continued to print the "Arizona Beehive" in Mesa, Arizona, independent of the "Nevada Beehive", expanding to 25,000 copies distributed by mail or at businesses owned by LDS members. [cite web | title=Our History | publisher=Arizona Beehive | url=http://www.arizonabeehive.com/showstory.php?article=1&issue=aboutus | accessdate=2008-05-22]

The "Nevada Beehive" became the "Beehive Standard Weekly" in 2005. In 2006, the organization shut down its hard copy newspaper to focus primarily on providing original online news content and political commentary.

Coverage

The Beehive endorsed Mitt Romney and followed his campaign in 2007-2008, often defending Romney's religion and religious views from attacks. The organization was the first to suggest that Mormons might have been disaffected from the Republican Party by how Romney's religion was treated by Evangelical Christians from the southern states and how Mormons might swing towards supporting Barack Obama in the general election given his plea for civility and inclusion.

Though not authoritative, the Beehive does make commentary relating to Mormon doctrine and does explain the Mormon culture to non-Mormons. The Beehive also defends the Mormon faith from attacks by Anti-Mormons.

ee also

* List of Latter Day Saint periodicals

Notes

External links

* [http://www.beehivestandardweekly.com/ Beehive Standard Weekly]
* [http://www.arizonabeehive.com/ The Beehive] (a.k.a. "The Arizona Beehive")