Washington Free Beacon Editor-in-Chief Matthew Continetti will visit Hillsdale College next semester and teach on conservative journalism.
“Many prominent figures in the conservative movement were writers and editors,” Continetti said. “The class will take a look at the greatest thought from conservative thinkers.”
Director of the Dow Journalism Program John Miller said Continetti, who is a former intern of Miller’s at the National Review, was chosen as the 2017 fall Eugene C. Pulliam Distinguished Fellow in Journalism for the Dow Journalism Program because of his prowess as an opinion journalist. He will teach a one-credit course called Classics of Conservative Journalism on Oct. 16-23.
“He’s really flourishing at this moment in his career,” Miller said. “He’s turned the Free Beacon into one of the liveliest and most interesting places for political discourse.”
Students enrolled in the course will read pieces from writers such as William F. Buckley, Charles Krauthammer, and Patrick Buchanan. Continetti said he hopes to show how this legacy extends to the next generation of writers.
“The purpose of the course is to give students a sense of what good intellectual journalism looks like, how to write it, and how to get it placed,” he said.
In addition to teaching the seminar, Continetti will deliver a speech open to the general campus audience about the importance of conservative journalism.
Continetti became interested in journalism himself as a student at Columbia University, where he wrote opinion pieces for the school paper, the Daily Spectator. He did not become a reporter, however, until his senior year.
“I remember Spencer Ackerman, who was working at The New Republic at the time, gave me this piece of advice: ‘If you really want a job,’ he said, ‘you need to learn how to report,’” Continetti said.
Upon graduating Columbia in 2003, Continetti joined the Weekly Standard, where he worked until becoming the Editor-in-Chief of the newly launched Washington Free Beacon in 2011, an online newspaper that features original reporting and investigative pieces.
