The Heritage Foundation and the Franklin Center presented conservative journalist, commentator, Fox News contributor and entrepreneur Michelle Malkin with the second annual Breitbart Award on Thursday for relentlessly pursuing the truth while empowering citizen journalists to do the same.
Heritage Foundation President, Sen. Jim DeMint, and Franklin Center President Jason Stverak honored Malkin with the award at the Krieble Dinner on Thursday at the Omni Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Andrew Breitbart was a new media pioneer who transformed journalism and the political landscape: a tradition that carries on daily at Breitbart News Network.
Breitbart News Network President and CEO Larry Solov, who was in attendance along with Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon, said, “We are extremely grateful to The Franklin Center for Government & Public Integerity and the Heritage Foundation for honoring Andrew’s legacy with this award and we congratulate Michelle Malkin for her uncompromising and relentless journalism.”
Erik Telford, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Communications at the Franklin Center, said Malkin “never hesitates to speak truth to power, debate issues that the mainstream media and political insiders would prefer to sweep under the rug, and empower citizens to join in her cause.”
Malkin has relentlessly highlighted issues important to Americans the mainstream media chose to ignore–such as Kermit Gosnell’s heinous murders of born-alive babies, the threats posed by illegal immigration, border security, the danger of global jihad, and crony capitalist politicians who put pork above the public good.
She has held politicians on both sides of the aisle accountable, and has not given politicians a pass for straying from first principles or putting the country at risk because they have an “R” next to their names.
And in the spirit of the late Andrew Breitbart, Malkin has also been an entrepreneur and pioneer who has empowered conservatives to seek the truth and created platforms for them to do so. She founded Hot Air and saw the potential potential power of videos and blogging in online politics long before most.
Later, she saw the potential of Twitter before most, and, like Breitbart, relentlessly used her power on the social media platform to highlight “bloggers” and lesser-known conservatives to get their ideas out to a broader audience in an engaging and fun manner. Later, she founded the popular Twitchy, which is a first-of-its-kind right-of-center website that aggregates the day’s most meaningful and politically relevant tweets and conversations on the platform.
In this way, Malkin and Breitbart were like two branches of the same tree, bringing more voices into the conservative movement, especially while enthusiastically embracing new platforms and becoming trailblazers for others to then follow.
Most importantly, like Breitbart, Malkin never sees herself above other “bloggers” and never ceases to interact with and show her appreciation to those who are fans of her work.
Robert Bluey, the Director of Heritage’s Center for Media and Public Policy, said, “The Breitbart Award is an opportunity to honor those who advocate for the truth.”
The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity was founded in 2009 to be a government watchdog and train reporters to expose waste, fraud, and abuse in local and state government. The Heritage Foundation is the nation’s most broadly supported public policy research institute and, under DeMint, is well positioned to promote and market conservative ideas to a new generation.