Demand for Glenn Beck Taking Off on Eventful

Just over a week ago, Fox News host Glenn Beck announced that he would be rolling out a series of "educational conventions" to be held around the country starting in Orlando, Florida, next spring on March 27 at the UCF Arena. He told a crowd at The Villages retirement community in that "up on GlennBeck.com we've partnered with a company called Eventful" where people can vote for their area. The whole series is supposed to culminate on August 28 in Washington, DC, "at the feet of Abraham Lincoln" (a  date and location that ought to make students of the civil rights movement wince).

Endquote From the Fall & Rise of Media

“Somewhere down in the Flatiron, out in Brooklyn, over in Queens or up in Harlem, cabals of bright young things are watching all the disruption with more than an academic interest. Their tiny netbooks and iPhones, which serve as portals to the cloud, contain more informational firepower than entire newsrooms possessed just two decades ago. And they are ginning content from their audiences in the form of social media or finding ways of making ambient information more useful. They are jaded in the way youth requires, but have the confidence that is a gift of their age as well.”

Some See Palin's Online Effort Lacking

Though former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is known as one of the country’s biggest political celebrities – online as well as off of it -- several GOP new-media strategists believe she has significant room for improvement when it comes to her web presence.

After resigning as governor in July, many wondered what Palin’s (R) next step would be. Will she run for president in 2012? Will she stump for candidates across the country? Will she remain an influential media figure?

Today's Bloggers Briefing at the Heritage Foundation featured two great guests: Congressman Pete Olson (R-TX) and John Solomon of the Washington Times.

Rep. Olson spoke first, and addressed the health care bill being considered by Congress. He said that there are three things people are upset about regarding this bill: the tax increase, long-term budget implications, and the public option. People understand that the public option will mean a government bureaucrat interfering in medical matters. And while there is some hope for conservatives regarding the health care bill, Rep. Olson said the GOP will not underestimate Speaker Pelosi – she is committed to passing the bill.

The Congressman also spoke about media bias against conservatives. He said it is a fact that the mainstream media does not treat Republicans fairly, and emphasized the need for conservatives to utilize blogs to get out their message.

Read more about Rep. Olson’s comments at today’s briefing in The Hill.

After Rep. Olson, John Solomon of the Washington Times spoke.

Solomon described the Washington Times as “platform agnostic,” meaning the news agency strives to be on every platform available - video, TV, the Internet, you name it. As of now, the news agency has 52 channels to get its news out to the public, and is constantly working on more (including an iPhone application.)

This strategy seems to be working. The Washington Times web site has seen a 500% growth in its visitors in just 1 year, and is now the 12th largest newspaper in the country, reaching 890 million people in 2009. This growth may also have something to do with the Washington Times' investigative reporting as the newspaper is constantly breaking important stories. On that note, Solomon advised us to check out the front page of the Washington Times tomorrow for a big story they will be running.

Solomon also spoke about a new project – TheConservatives.com – which he described as the "Google of conservative thought" and a “meritocracy of ideas.”

TheConservatives.com has enormous capabilities, including giving grassroots conservatives the ability to engage with major conservative leaders like Fred Thompson, Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist and Liz Cheney. It can also be used to activate grassroots campaigns, test messaging points, and introduce new ideas and get them out quickly. Solomon said the purpose of TheConservatives.com is to marry leadership with the grassroots, and provide a platform for the grassroots to bubble up to the top, versus the traditional top-down approach.

Importantly, TheConservatives.com monitors in real time, without any polling, what people are talking about. It also monitors what conservative leaders are talking about. Solomon said that former Governor Sarah Palin’s staff use TheConservatives.com to watch what she says on Twitter and Facebook.

Bottom line: be sure to check out TheConservatives.com. You can also follow @WTconservatives on Twitter.

Hi guys!  I just found TechRepublican - great site!  

 I started doing a podcast about technology/policy/news - My goal is to bring some attention to emerging technologies that support the creation of a new media marketplace, preserve a free and open internet, and generally show ways we can use technology to live better.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IEAsGifOyPY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed>

Here's the link, if you're interested:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEAsGifOyPY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEAsGifOyPY</a> 

Thanks!

Shelly

twitter.com/shellyroche 

I'd just as soon not bring this up, as I've probably had beers with most of the people involved with this topic. But I feel that the cause of good, solid reporting on what Presidential eCampaignmeisters is worth setting the record straight.

Jonathan Martin brings up MittTV as an interesting example of Mitt going around the "media filter," a la HillaryHub. This isn't the first time I've seen MittTV signed out in writeups of Romney's website, and every time I have to ask, "Why?"

What is MittTV? It's Mitt Romney's videos on his website, draped in a custom player and a zingy name. But who isn't posting videos to the Web and YouTube? A number of candidates are even using their name and "TV" in the branding! Here's BarackTV and Hillary TV. Now, Romney's folks have been more aggressive about posting news clips of their guy to their YouTube channel, which is just smart strategy, but that's about the only differentiator to this that I can see.

Meanwhile, another worthwhile Romney effort, the Sign Up America campaign which signed up 30,000 supporters in 24 hours, didn't get as much play in the media. But over the long run, it's stuff like this -- the boring game of inches of recruiting volunteers and donors -- that has the greater impact.

A tipster passes this event along which might interest you DC-types:

"Politics 2008: How Citizen and New Media Affect the Press and the Presidential Campaign" will be a roundtable panel discussion. Panelists are: Jim Brady, executive editor of washingtonpost.com; Jim VandeHei, executive editor of The Politico; Pulitzer Prize winner Haynes Johnson, Knight Chair in Journalism at the Merrill College; and Susan Page, Washington bureau chief of USA Today. The panel will be moderated by Merrill Dean Tom Kunkel.

The event is Thursday (June 7) at 6:45 p.m. in the Holman Lounge of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C. RSVP to shyoung@umd.edu.