Where are the Conservative Journalists?

By Eric Pfeiffer | July 24, 2008 2:42 PM | | Comments (0)

Over at the Politico, Jonathan Martin writes, "GOP losing the new-media war." The article is generating some thoughtful discussion from conservative tech folks inside the Beltway, even though it has already been addressed by mainstream outlets (yours truly on more than one occasion) and other conservative bloggers. 

In his piece, Martin writes:

While conservatives are devoting much of their Internet energy to analysis, their counterparts on the left are taking advantage of the rise of new media to create new institutions devoted to unearthing stories, putting new information into circulation and generally crowding the space traditionally taken by traditional media. And it almost always comes at the expense of GOP politicians.

Very similar to a point I made yesterday, while discussing recent moves by Matthew Yglesias and Spencer Ackerman. I also think it's worth noting that Martin himself worked briefly at National Review, and for Republican Rep. Christopher Shays before being hired by the Politico. So, he's a firsthand observer of the dilemma he's writing about. But it also calls into question this quote from David Brooks in the article:

"In the past 60 years, only one employee of the National Review, Weekly Standard or any conservative magazine has actually been hired as a reporter for a newspaper," says Brooks, who researched the question a few years ago.

With apologies to the crack research team Brooks enjoys at The New York Times, I can offer two examples within the past three years of employees of National Review being hired as reporters for mainstream publications: Jonathan Martin and myself. Yeah.

The Weekly Standard also employs at least four top reporters and editors: Stephen F. Hayes, Matt Labash, Matthew Continetti and Jonathan V. Last. With the exception of Continetti, these guys don't get a lot of attention from conservative bloggers, but that doesn't negate the insightful and often groundbreaking reporting they do.
Some reactions from over at the Tech Republican email discussion list:

Soren Dayton:

Think about what TPM does. They are located next to CJR. They give connections and context to J-school kids. Who are then trained at political investigative journalism. Those kids get to break stories that get into tier-1 press outlets. No wonder their kids get jobs at major MSM outlets. We can't touch this right now. No one does investigative stuff. NO ONE.

Conservative web consultant Matthew Sheffield writes:

Jonathan Martin is such a moron that he never happens to read any of it. Hot Air, LGF, NR, and NewsBusters routinely produce a lot of great journalistic work.

Sean Hackbarth adds:

In the short term we leverage the infrastructure we have. National Review, Weekly Standard, and The American Spectator need to do more basic reporting and find and train young reporters. A few success stories will show donors that a separate organization(s) would be in order.

Tags: Blogger Influence, Blogger Reactions

Post A Comment


(for verification only; will not be published with your comment)