Media Giraffe Project

As part of my Internet applications capstone, I am part of the Media Giraffe Project (MGP). This project is a four year grant-funded effort at the University of Massachusetts to find and spotlight people who are making innovative, potentially sustainable use of media to foster participatory democracy and community. It is my job as a journalist to add to the database of giraffe prospect profiles. A "media giraffe" is a standout performer, person or institution who sticks his or her neck out in journalism or media, visible above others in service to ideals of participatory democracy. They "graze" all over the globe looking for ways to improve, innovate and stand-out in multimedia journalism.

The media giraffe that I have researched is Andrew Breitbart, conservative commentator, founder and creator of Breitbart.com.

Here is my first giraffe profile for Breitbart and once this is approved by the project coordinator, I hope to get a personal interview with Breitbart over the next few weeks.

Media Giraffe Profile-Andrew Breitbart

Andrew Breitbart---big thinker, big innovator, multimedia journalist. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Andrew Breitbart started his high-profile as a conservative commentator for The Washington Times, moved to the editor position for the Drudge Report, bounced over to be primary developer of The Huffington Post, and now has his own site www.breitbart.com. After Breitbart.com, he created and launched four other websites, BIGGOVERNMENT, BIGHOLLYWOOD, BIGJOURNALISM and BREITBARTTV. Each of these sites is a blog and newsgathering powerhouse allowing viewers, newsmakers and people inside or outside of the journalism business to access stories, videos and news feeds and start a conversation. His mission is to provide a site that gets people “connected to the news as fast as possible.” Breitbart.com emphasizes “user access to raw news feeds—kind of an organized grocery store of news.” Breitbart’s websites are flashy, interactive and utilize social media tools to broaden ways of communication between bloggers. Each site uses images, video and links to social media sources like Twitter and Facebook to attract and connect bloggers allowing them to share and comment on current issues. BIGGOVERNMENT focuses on politics. BIGHOLLYWOOD follows celebrity news and gossip. BIGJOURNALISM is an interactive blog with a wide variety of topics, ranging from how the news is covered by different entities to analysis of current world issues. BREITBARTTV provides in-depth access to news video. Breitbart.com statistics say the site is currently serving 20 million news pages per month to three million visitors. The bulk of the Breitbart.com audience is the average blogger. Breitbart currently contributes to each of his websites and continues to write articles for The Washington Times. He has a dynamic personality that makes him a loud figure in the growing media community of today.