Media Giraffe Project

After finishing my preliminary research on Andrew Breitbart for the media giraffe project, I was ready to contact him for an interview. I first contacted his website through an email form and sent him a facebook message as well since I could not find any phone information. I was very nervous due his busy schedule and journalism celebrity status. However, after patiently waiting a few days I received a phone call from him and we were able to connect for an interview. I caught him at the perfect time the very next day and he spent an hour on the phone with me answering all of my questions. We had a very unique and extremely interesting conversation. I am so excited I was able to learn more about him and his journalism endeavors through this project. He is quite the passionate innovator who is definitely taking the bull by the horns when it comes to opportunities for growth in our world of new media. I am interested to see how his role in our industry grows and develops over the next few years. Breitbart will have a significant impact on the news as we know it and I am confident in his entrepreneurial aspirations in our ever-changing business.

Here is the final draft of my media profile on Andrew Breitbart. Enjoy!

Andrew Breitbart---big thinker, big innovator, multimedia journalist. Born and raised in Los Angeles he attended Brentwood, a university prep school before completing his undergraduate studies at Tulane University. After his formal education in American Studies, he started to realize there was an entire worldview that had been kept from him during his liberal upbringing. His thoughts and ideas after sitting through four years of academia began to deconstruct the way he was raised. He had never been given the option to explore anything but the left side of thinking and being. “There were great writers and countless other people out there who viewed the world how it really was.” Breitbart said. Recognizing that he was a conservative changed his life. “Once the awkward realization occurred it forced me to confront the world in which I lived and it was a media world. I started to realize the obvious political make up of the traditional news media.” Breitbart said. He admired the strides of Rush Limbaugh, for providing a counter narrative to the liberal voice of the news. Providing a counter narrative and a voice to combat the traditional news media is now Breitbart’s mission. The next major movement for the media world that influenced Breitbart’s journalism journey was the Internet. “The Internet provided a tool that allowed anyone to become part of the media. For freedom-lovers like me it was like Mardi Gras, the manifestation of all things good.” Breitbart said. “The Internet has been in essence a way to discover the truth—if you build it they will come—and I have built and granted people left and right the ability to challenge the entrenched powers at the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS, ABC, CNN.”

Andrew Breitbart started his high-profile journalism career 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 and original news content generated by writers and reporters all over the world covering a wide variety of issues. “I wanted to create a long term media company and bring in as many newswires as possible. This would also give me name recognition in the news business and then I can provide original reporting and commentary that fills the void mainstream media refuses to cover.” Breitbart said. 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, entertainment news, broke right before the Obama inauguration. “We provided original news stories and coverage of that day that rocked the news world and altered the political landscape.” Breitbart said. 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’s next online endeavors include launching four more sites, BIGPEACE, BIGEDUCATION, BIGENVIRONMENT AND BIGTOLERANCE. BIGEDUCATION will focus on academia, specifically kindergarten through 12^th grade and the institutions that affect the education of our nation’s children. BIGPEACE tackles national security from the pentagon and from the front lines. Breitbart is working with The Hoover Institution, the Center for Security Policy and the military blogger group, the Black Five, to generate content. BIGENVIRONMENT seeks to debunk the false narratives about our environment and BIGTOLERANCE strives to battle the multicultural liberal ideology. “When someone from a minority, whether that be blacks, Latinos, gays, bisexuals, Muslims, Jews, is told they need to be democratic…how dare you tell people that they have to stay on their own political plantation.” Breitbart said. He hopes to have these sites up and running by the election in 2012.

When asked about his role in participatory democracy, Breitbart responded with “I am a pied piper, Paul Revere in this movement. I am basically saying come on in, the water’s warm and I think that when you look at my history, I mean it. I believe that in America the best ideas will win, the best people will prosper.” His mission is to allow the people to see the ideas of the left and the ideas of the right, so they can decide for themselves. “This is the people versus the gatekeepers,” Breitbart said. “And I am the people person-the revolution has begun and there are millions like me who won’t shut up.” Breitbart says he bases 95% of his success on in his common sense and sense of humor, not his academic upbringing. His dynamic personality makes him a loud, successful figure in the growing media community of today.

Quote of the Week

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you are the lion or the gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

I stumbled upon this week's quote on a local Columbia fitness website. I really liked the vivid inspirational picture it paints for runners. It also has quite the verbal encouragement to wake up with an adventurous attitude to start a strong solid day. As many of my family and friends know, I am a morning person. I wake up pleasant, energetic and ready to start my day. Life is too short to grumble as the sun rises. Grabbing coffee and a little breakfast as I head off to a new day, puts me in a great mood. As a journalist, many mornings begin much earlier than the average morning. That early morning is usually preceded by an extremely late night. Being on a full-time journalist and student schedule has taught me how to manage my time and my sleep to stay healthy and strong even when sleep is not a priority.

This quote also sparked my interest because I am an avid runner. Exercising is my me-time. This hour everyday is when I get to clear my head and do something that is completely my choice and my enjoyment. Especially since spring is finally here, I have been running outside on the trails near campus on a daily basis. The trees and flowers are breathtaking. Everything is super green, smells fresh and looks bright. Cardinals birds fly in and out of the branches and squirrels scurry along the side of the path playfully dodging bikers and runners like me. I love getting my exercise on sunny, quiet path. It is a great time to think and clear my head as I soon embark on a new chapter in my life. I am not sure if I am the lion or the gazelle, but when I wake up every morning-I'm ready to run.

Quote of the Week

"In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right."-Ellen Goodman

This week during my capstone class, we started an ethical discussion about the growing world of social media. The ability to get or post information with the click of a mouse or the push of a button on a mobile device has changed the communication pace of the world today. Newsmakers/sharers need to be on their toes, constantly fact-checking and verifying updates that come from blogs or twitter accounts. Posting something found from an online source onto a news site or onto one's own personal RSS feed, can become extremely detrimental if the decision was made too quickly without investigation.

I believe one must have an established verification process and ethical code firmly established before jumping head first into personal or news-based social media communication. News outlets need to make sure all of their staff and contributors are on the same page when it comes to the particular outlet's philosophy on what is newsworthy and what is not. Journalists entering their own free-lance adventures or those entering a new job need a personal ethical code that can be referenced as they grow in their career. Social media, chats, updates, blogs, tweets, mobile messaging, online posts and web content encompass and engulf the media world today. Don't get lost. Don't get tricked. Don't get trampled. Don't lose sight of basic human dignity and respect for the audiences that we serve as multimedia journalists. Everyone is seeing, listening, reading and commenting-are you ready and rooted in your beliefs?

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.

Quote of the Week

"A picture is worth one thousand words."

My Spring Break Adventures--For a relaxing tropical treat, 13 of my friends and I went on a Carnival Cruise to Key West and the Bahamas. Complete with two relaxing days on the ship as well as two days of traveling on Duvall Street in Key West and hitting the slides and the beach at the Atlantis in the Bahamas, the trip was a blast. We soaked up the sun, swam in the ocean, ate great food, saw crazy cruise variety shows, raced down slides and lazy rivers, shopped, danced and laughed. Overall, we had a wonderful last girls trip before we all go our separate ways upon graduation. Cheers to fun in the sun with the best friends I could ever hope for!

Quote of the Week

"There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew."-Marshall McLuhan

This week my mind is on the environment and how important it is that we each do our part to help sustain our beautiful planet. Luckily, awareness of the environment has increased tremendously over the past few years and the going green movement is at operating at full speed in a positive direction.

My thoughts about the fascinating world around us and the plants and animals we share it with, started on Sunday night when I sat down to watch Discovery Channel's new series, Life. Similar to Discovery Channel's other series, Planet Earth, this new show focuses more on the animals in each environment and how they thrive and cooperate to sustain life. The first episode entitled "Challenges of Life" focused on the unique strategies certain animals and plants have adopted and acquired to survive the challenges presented in their environments. The second episode highlighted two interesting groups of animals, reptiles and amphibians, from all different habitats including deserts, ponds, swamps and even the rainforest. Due to my broadcast background, I was in awe with the videography and editing the show uses to showcase these animals in their natural surroundings. The equipment, time and labor put into these episodes was astounding--talk about dedication! The music was well-chosen and the pacing of the story keeps the viewer wanting more.

Good news is...there are a lot more episodes to come! After the first two aired last Sunday, two more episodes will be shown every Sunday night until April 18th. This coming Sunday's episodes are mammals and fish. Also if you missed the first two episodes, want to see behind the scenes footage, photos or learn more about the making of Life, click here. Can't wait to watch more of these adventures through our world this Sunday!

Quote of the Week

"If you're lucky enough to be Irish, then you're lucky enough."-an old Irish saying

And this week I feel very lucky! This past weekend, I took my travels to Chicago to celebrate my birthday in the Windy City. Little did I know, that the entire city would be celebrating as well, but not my birthday...St . Patrick's Day! Chicago holds a huge all-day festival including a parade and dying the river bright green. The celebration was surely a sight to see and it made me very excited for the upcoming festivities on the actual holiday this Wednesday. Even though most people wear green, drink green beverages, eat corned beef and cabbage and celebrate with family and friends, regardless of their heritage, St. Patrick's Day has a special place in my heart because I do have a large amount of Irish family history. Both sets of parents have Irish lineage and my red hair does not hide those Celtic family roots.

So as part of my observance and celebration of this fine holiday, I decided to take this week to educate myself and you, the avid blog reader, about this festive day of green shamrocks and drinking.

St. Patrick, whose feast day is March 17th, is the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he died on March 17th 461 and to this day, it has been a celebration of Irish culture and history. St. Patrick's Day is a national holiday in Ireland. The largest celebration of this holiday takes place in Dublin, with a four-day festival from March 15th to March 19th. Some of the events include a parade, family carnivals, a treasure hunt, traditional Celtic dance and music performances and a theatre festival. One million people are expected to participate in the Dublin festivities this year. The grand parade on the 17th will include 3000 street performers and an expected 650,000 spectators. Traditional dress in Ireland on St. Patrick's day consists of green ribbons in the womens' hair, high-crowned green leprechaun hats and shamrock pins. The saying "the wearing of the green" refers to wearing a shamrock on one's clothing. And the party continues even in the United States. Boston, MA has hosted a St. Patrick's Day parade since 1737.

Fun Fact: Over 34 million Americans have Irish ancestry. So whether you are one of them like me, or you just want a reason to celebrate-wear your green proud and celebrate the Irish on this lucky day!