Originally published November 30, 2014 at 7:39 PM | Page modified November 30, 2014 at 8:50 PM
WASHINGTON Since Kirby Wilbur quit as chairman of the Washington state Republican Party last year, hes held a job that would seem a tricky balance: training objective journalists at an overtly partisan organization.
Wilbur is executive director of the National Journalism Center in Reston, Va., an arm of Young Americas Foundation, a conservative group with a long association with the late President Ronald Reagan.
The centers mission is to populate both mainstream and partisan media outlets with young journalists of varying degrees of conservative orientation. Ann Coulter, the right-wing political pundit and provocateur, is a former intern (class of 1985). So is Malcolm Gladwell, an author and staff writer at The New Yorker (summer 1982).
Shifting into his new role has been easy for Wilbur. Before he became a paid GOP operative in 2011 by ousting state party chairman Luke Esser, Wilbur spent more than 15 years as a conservative radio host with KVI in Seattle. He also worked as occasional fill-in host for The Sean Hannity Show.
Wilburs brand of opinion journalism occasionally incensed listeners in liberal Seattle. Several years ago, he was targeted by an anonymous prankster who advertised fake landscaping jobs on craigslist at Wilburs home in Duvall in retaliation for Wilburs on-air railings against President Obama and the first lady.
Yet even with straight news, Wilbur believes, objective journalism is a phantom ideal. One proposed remedy: diversifying the pool of ideological talent.
When jobs open up, there arent all that many conservative, trained journalists, Wilbur said. But with proper skills, your biases will not affect what you write.
Wilbur, who was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to Seattle at age 8, leapt at the chance to return east.
The National Journalism Center was founded in 1977 by M. Stanton Evans. A conservative journalist and activist, Evans foremost wanted to train reporters and editors to rise above spin and distortion.
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Ex-GOP leader, talk-show host Kirby Wilbur trains young journalists to be objective