Nearly six years ago in a small conference room on Capitol Hill, a dozen conservative online pioneers gathered for the first meeting of The Bloggers Briefing. What started as an off-the-record gathering to talk strategy and ideas has become a weekly media event featuring members of Congress, authors, and other newsmakers.
Over the course of those six years and approximately 300 briefings, The Heritage Foundation has welcomed hundreds of bloggers and online influencers who shape public opinion. And starting this week, we’ll partner with the Breitbart News Network to expand the reach of The Bloggers Briefing to individuals outside of the nation’s capital.
Beginning tomorrow, The Bloggers Briefing will air live on Breitbart TV every Tuesday at noon ET.
The Bloggers Briefing was created in May 2006 to connect conservative bloggers in Washington, D.C. Once word spread, it became a newsmaking event featuring the likes of Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Jon Huntsman. The advent of Twitter reshaped how the conversation spread. Now we’re streaming it live each week for an audience outside of Washington.
As one of the meeting’s co-founders and host (it was originally a partnership between Heritage and Human Events), my goal is to bring together online communicators and newsmakers for a mix of discussion and debate.
This week we welcome Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA), ALEC’s Caitlyn Korb, and Heritage’s James Jay Carafano, author of “Wiki at War: Conflict in a Socially Networked World.”
• Landry, who represents Louisiana’s Cajun country south of New Orleans, is one of leading critics of President Obama’s energy policies. He has a stake in the matter as a former small business owner in the oil and gas industry. He’ll talk about Louisiana’s recovery from the 2010 oil spill and how offshore drilling can reduce gas prices.
• Liberal pressure groups and media outlets have successfully convinced major U.S. companies and foundations to pull their support from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonpartisan membership organization of state legislators that promotes federalism and conservative public policy solutions. Despite this aggressive campaign, however, ALEC continues to grow.
• The viral YouTube film “Kony 2012” exposed millions around the globe to the violent militia of Joseph Kony and Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa. According to James Jay Carafano, it’s a “reminder that social networking can be a powerful force to influence everything from the boardroom to the battlefield.” Carafano’s book, “Wiki at War,” explores why Internet-born initiatives matter and how they are likely to affect the future face of war and diplomacy.
Tune in at noon Tuesday to catch the action. And this weekly discussion isn’t limited to bloggers who show up at Heritage. We’ll be monitoring the comments here, on Twitter and the Livestream chat for your questions.
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