2010 Mightier Pen Award: Dick Morris

Today the Center for Security Policy released video of its recent event in New York, the Mightier Pen and National Security and New Media Conference, on its Youtube channel, youtube.com/securefreedom.

Authors Dick Morris and Eileen McGann received the Center for Security Policy’s Mightier Pen Award in New York, for their strong and passionate voice in supporting “peace through strength.”

Morris, who accepted the award on behalf of his collaborator, spoke at length in a freewheeling and casual appraisal of today’s political landscape. He began by pronouncing a simple verdict:”This administration is pathetic.”

Though primarily known for his outspoken views on domestic policy and electoral politics, each of Dick Morris’ many best-sellers deal with America’s national security concerns and threats to the homeland. In his comments– and the informal Q&A that followed– Morris spoke about Obama’s weakness on the world stage, Shariah law in the US, the 2012 GOP Presidential contenders, gave a tour of the tide of domestic politics, did a Winston Churchill impression, and more.

At the same event, the Center’s first National Security and New Media Conference addressed several problems in mainstream media reporting on national security topics, including: the sheer neglect of national security journalism; lack of education on national security and military topics in journalism training; inaccurate reporting on military issues and anti-western bias; reduced budgets that have eliminated foreign and Washington correspondents; and the acceptance of foreign propaganda as news.

Blaming America: Political Correctness and Anti-Military Bias in National Security Reporting

The first panel, “Blaming America: Political Correctness and Anti-Military Bias in National Security Reporting,” featured veteran Washington Times Geopolitics Editor Bill Gertz, the Washington Examiner‘s Sara Carter, and David Feith of the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page. The focus was on the effect of the mainstream media’s narrative when it comes to putting America’s national security in context, it’s common biases, and how that narrative plays out, story after story.

National Security Reporting Reinvented: Tomorrow’s New Reporters, Media & Audiences

The next panel dealt with emerging issues in New Media in the context of improved national security reporting, including the embed “rules of engagement” for New Media journalists and military bloggers, professional standards for reporting national security, protection of journalists from “Lawfare” and international libel suits, the risks and benefits of non-professional citizen journalists, and the New Media roles for editors and publishers.

For that panel, two new media giants–Pajamas Media CEO Roger L. Simon and Andrew Breitbart–joined the Center for Security Policy’s Frank Gaffney for a panel to discuss, “National Security Reporting Reinvented: Tomorrow’s New Reporters, Media & Audiences.” Here, the participants shared their experiences in creating a new kind of reporting, both more egalitarian and openly patriotic.