Free | 23/6
Posted: 2/13/2012
WASHINGTON -- While Republican candidates score points slamming the media from the stump, prominent conservatives, gathered in Washington D.C. for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, were busy encouraging young attendees to pursue journalism.Several conservatives, in interviews and on CPAC panels, said that young, right-leaning journalists have the chance to influence the establishment -- or as they say, 'liberal' -- media, as well as the ability to launch new sites to broaden the media landscape. They talked about harnessing the potential of the Internet and social media to offer a counter-narrative to the national press, while arguing that the Obama administration and Democratic-aligned organizations aren't being covered aggressively enough. And whether conservatives supported infiltrating the national media or taking a DIY-approach outside the system, there seemed to be a consensus that it's reporting, rather than opining, that will make a difference.National Review blogger Jim Geraghty, during a Saturday panel, told attendees that with all the tools available for reporting online or starting a blog, it's now a 'golden age for conservative journalism.' Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, seated next to him, said that conservatives need to increasingly make the transition from commenting 'on the news being gathered by other people to gathering the news ourselves' -- even if that means simply picking up the phone to confirm a quote or get a statement. 'We need to be used to going out and committing random acts of journalism,' Morrissey said. It's not that conservatives don't already have a number of right-leaning media outlets. Anyone strolling through the CPAC exhibition hall in recent days saw booths from several right-of-center magazines (American Spectator, Human Events, American Conservative, Weekly Standard), a couple newspapers (Washington Examiner, Washington Times) and conservative