The Mendota Beacon was a free, privately funded biweekly (and later, weekly) published newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin between 2005 and 2007. It was formed in 2004 as a conservative alternative to the left-of-center The Badger Herald, The Daily Cardinal, and that are distributed throughout the UW–Madison campus and downtown area. The name came from the fact that the campus is on the shore of Lake Mendota. The newspaper's motto was "Shining the Light on What's Right."