Duane Lester June 11, 2012 The Blog

This weekend I traveled to Providence, Rhode Island for the Future of Journalism Summit, organized by The Heritage Foundation and the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity. The purpose of the summit was “to bring together rising stars with veteran reporters for informative workshops, face-to-face networking and an awards dinner to celebrate the best work in journalism.”

It was hosted by these two guys, Eric Telford and Robert Bluey.

I’d say they pulled it off.

Here’s the first session I attended, “Getting the Records the Government Doesn’t Want You to See.”  It was taught Chris Farrell, the Director of Research and Investigation for Judicial Watch.

The next session I attended focused on ObamaCare.  It was taught by Hadley Heath of the Independent Women’s Forum and Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner.  They both focused on the impact of ObamaCare.

Marc Morano of Climate Depot was next and he will be remembered.  His presentation was energetic and humorous.

He was joined by Lachlan Markay of The Heritage Foundation.

Ending the first day was Jeremy Art, C-SPAN’s Digital and Social Media Specialist.  He did a quick overview of the Video Library at C-SPAN.

After that, it was time to get some “networking” done, poolside.

There were a lot of people there, some I knew, some were new.  For example, I knew Trent Seibert from Texas Watchdog, but met Mark Lisheron for the first time here.

I also enjoyed seeing Michael Bates from Batesline again.  I learned the guy went to MIT.  Impressive.  He’s still a knuckle-dragging, mouth breathing Cro-Magnon conservative, but really, aren’t we all?

As always, Tabitha Hale was running around trying to get everything and everyone where they should be.  She had time to stop for a photo though:

Sarah Rumpf, Sean Bielat’s Communications Guru, was there also.  She always seems to be in a good mood:

Jim Geraghty from National Review Online made the trip also.  I spent quite a lot of time talking with Jim.  About comic books.  He’s almost as big a fan boy as I am.  Almost.

Dr. Richard M. Swier and Fingers Malloy started out friends, but ended up getting in a fist fight later.  What Fingers didn’t know is that Dr. Rich was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, so he was served.  There’s only a little bit of that last sentence that’s true.  The Army part.  I still think Fingers would get served.

Brandon Morse of Misfit Politics kept eyeing my backpack.  Seriously, the dude has some serious issues.  It was weird.

After the poolside “networking,” it was time for the Breitbart Awards.  John Fund is speaking in this next photo.  I was sitting at this table and thought it was hilarious that everyone was pretty much doing the same thing.  Twitter:

The first award given that night was the Breitbart Blogger Award.  I was told earlier that day I would be receiving it.  I was stunned and honored.  Here’s the introduction and my speech:

After the dinner, I was able to finally get a photo with Chris and Dana Loesch.  Chris was later molested by the TSA.  That’s not a joke.

The Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft was also there, along with Skip Murphy of GraniteGrok.

Javier Manjarres, aka El Sharko, of The Shark Tank, was there also.  Here he looks for someone to make fun of Ben Howe with.

I called it a night not long after that.

Day two of the conference opened with a panel on messaging.  Anne Sorock of The Frontier Lab gave some great tips on how to write your content the most effective way possible:

Steven Greenhut of The Franklin Center spoke on digging up dirt on labor unions.

He was joined by Mark Lagerkvist, an Investigative Reporter with New Jersey Watchdog.

In between that session and the next, I was able to get a photo with the great Andrew Malcolm of Investor’s Business Daily.  I hope to have him on the podcast soon.

After that, James O’Keefe talked about how video is transforming political journalism:

 

I was able to get a photo with him in between sessions, with highlights the fact that I have a ginormous head:

 The last session I attended was done by Jim Geraghty and Andrew Malcolm.  It was a joy to hear Andrew’s stories, ranging from the ’68 conventions to how he finds the angles no one else does.

With the last session over, it was time for more “networking.”  Here’s Melissa Clouthier.  He’s a good friend and presented me with my Breitbart Blogger Award:

Lachlan Markay took time to pose for a photo with me.  He’s got a skill set I would love to replicate.  There’s a lot conservative bloggers could learn from him:

Tony Katz was seemingly always behind the mic working on something.  The guy’s a machine. And love bacon.

Moe Lane worked hard also…in his own way.

Finally, after a great meal, I met up with Billy Hallowell of The Blaze.  Really nice guy.

The night ended with a RiverFire, a bizarre event that featured wood burning in little metal cages over the river, and really bad music. Mommentator Molly Teichman and Fingers Malloy joined me for a walk around the event, and the walk back to the hotel.

Overall, it was an informative training weekend and I learned a few more tricks I hope to implement soon.  Plus, I was overwhlemed by being honored as the Breitbart Blogger of the Year.  It’s motivating.  I feel like I have to increase both my quantity and quality of content, both here and at Liberty News. 

Thanks to everyone who voted for me, including my mom.  I’ll try to live up to the honor.

 

Future in Journalism Summit