Hugh Hewitt

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Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is a conservative American radio talk show host, author, and blogger. Hewitt is a Professor of Law at Chapman University School of Law, where he teaches constitutional, torts and administrative law. He is a native of Warren, Ohio.

Hewitt graduated from Harvard College cum laude with an A.B. in Government in 1978. He was Order of the Coif at the University of Michigan Law School and received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1983, magna cum laude. Hewitt clerked for Judges Roger Robb and George MacKinnon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983-84, and then went on to serve as Special Assistant to Attorneys General William French Smith and Edwin Meese, Assistant Counsel in the White House Counsel's Office, General Counsel for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, where he finished his career in the Reagan Administration as Deputy Director of the agency, having been confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate.

Hewitt returned to California to oversee construction of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace as the Library's executive director from groundbreaking through dedication and opening at the request of former President Richard Nixon, for whom he had worked as a ghostwriter between college and law school in San Clemente, California, and New York City. In 1990 Hewitt sparked controversy by proposing ideological screening of researchers wishing to use the library resources; for example, Hewitt said Bob Woodward would not be admitted because he was "not a responsible journalist." The policy was later reversed. When he left the library to practice law, Hewitt also began a weekend radio talk show for Los Angeles radio station KFI, where he broadcast from late 1990 to 1995. In the spring of 1992 he began co-hosting Los Angeles PBS member station KCET's nightly news and public affairs program Life & Times, and remained with the program until the fall of 2001, when he began broadcasting his radio show in the afternoons. Hewitt received three Emmys for his work on Life & Times on KCET, and also conceived and hosted the 1996 PBS series Searching for God in America.

Hewitt is a weekly columnist for The Daily Standard, the online edition of The Weekly Standard and World. He also occasionally appears as a political/social commentator on programs such as The Dennis Miller Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Larry King Live, The O'Reilly Factor and The Today Show. On April 24th, 2006, Hewitt appeared as a guest on The Colbert Report.

1 Radio show
2 "New Media"
3 Books
4 External links

[edit] Radio show

Hewitt's nationally syndicated radio show, The Hugh Hewitt Show, is broadcast from Los Angeles radio station KRLA 870 AM and its on-line stream in the afternoon drive slot by the Salem Radio Network. The show can be heard on 70 stations on weekdays.

[edit] "New Media"

Hewitt is a long-time proponent and promoter of what Hewitt, among an assortment of other conservative pundits, calls the new media - talk radio and blogs - as a means to balance what many conservatives allege is left-wing bias in the mainstream media.

In early 2006, he wrote an article for The Weekly Standard titled "The Media's Ancien Régime", in which he outlined his belief that the idea of traditional journalism was being eroded by the ease of information facilitated by the internet:

There is [now] too much expertise, all of it almost instantly available now, for the traditional idea of journalism to last much longer. In the past, almost every bit of information was difficult and expensive to acquire and was therefore mediated by journalists whom readers and viewers were usually in no position to second-guess. Authority has drained from journalism for a reason. Too many of its practitioners have been easily exposed as poseurs.

In 2006, Hewitt was named Executive Editor of townhall.com, a conservative media web magazine which was purchased by Salem Communications and re-engineered into a conservative new-media and activism forum.

Hewitt has been criticized by Andrew Sullivan for being a Christianist. [1]

[edit] Books

First Principles: A Primer of Ideas for the College-Bound Student
Searching for God in America
The Embarrassed Believer
In, But Not Of : A Guide to Christian Ambition
If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It
Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World
Painting the Map Red