Populace Media

Accuracy in Academia ^ | November 5, 2009 | Sarah Carlsruh

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Populace Media

Sarah Carlsruh, November 5, 2009

James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles’ undercover videos revealing the scandal of ACORN, with over a million views on YouTube, are a testament to the escalating dominance of new media.

At Accuracy in Media’s (AIM) 40th Anniversary Conference on October 23rd, a New Media and the Future of Journalism panel discussed recent technology in the media and the social media movement.

Panelist Robert Bluey, after graduating from journalism school, envisioned that he would get a job at the Washington Post; that dream died when he discovered that such organizations did not covet a conservative voice. Instead, Bluey’s job path led him to become an avid conservative blogger and Director of Online Strategy at the Heritage Foundation. Finding blogging to be a powerful forum, he explained at the AIM Conference “how bloggers could have an impact on the public policy debate,” suggesting that any blogger could expose secret documents or salacious political activities. People will follow a blog if they find that it is based on truth, said Bluey, but urged writers to “please, stick to the facts.” Bloggers and activists do not need to be in Washington, he said, but can cover local-level stories in the community, such as an “ACORN in your city.”

J.P. Freire, Associate Editor of Commentary at the Washington Examiner, helped to organize the first TEA party protest in D.C. There, he saw firsthand that average citizens who do not typically participate in politics are becoming activists, he said, adding that he felt a more active citizenry is good for democracy. Americans are beginning to notice the lack of truth in the press, he argued, and so “they are going to seek it out themselves.”...