Rob Bluey is a journalist and blogger who leads The Heritage Foundation's digital media department and investigative reporting unit. It's his job to develop stories and use technology to communicate the power of policy ideas - most prominently through Heritage's online outlets and a weekly meeting he co-founded called the Bloggers Briefing. Combining a background in journalism with a passion for digital media, Bluey's goal is to secure Heritage's position as the go-to think tank for hard-hitting stories and videos spotlighting conservative solutions to the nation's thorniest challenges. He oversees a team responsible for promoting Heritage content on more than a dozen digital platforms - from Facebook and Twitter to iPad and YouTube. As director of Heritage's Center for Media and Public Policy, Bluey also focuses on promoting investigative journalism and government transparency. He co-founded the Future of Journalism Summit and Breitbart Awards in 2012 with the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity. Bluey joined Heritage in 2007 after five years as a reporter and editor in Washington. While reporting for Cybercast News Service, for example, he was the first journalist to challenge the authenticity of documents used by CBS News to question President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. Bluey's first assignment at Heritage was as liaison to conservative bloggers and host of the Bloggers Briefing, the weekly meeting he co-founded in 2006. Within a year, he was named editor-in-chief of Heritage.org and oversaw creation of the think tank's rapid-response policy blog, The Foundry, and daily e-newsletter, Morning Bell. Bluey shifted roles in 2009 to develop and integrate Heritage's online strategy, managing the organization's outreach through social media, e-mail marketing and online issue advocacy campaigns. Under his direction, Heritage's online footprint grew significantly. The organization increased its social networking presence, expanded e-newsletter offerings and redesigned Heritage.org. Scribe, which features Heritage's investigative reporting, launched in 2011. Bluey continues to host the Bloggers Briefing, described by The Washington Times as a place for conservative bloggers "to share information and ideas." He has arranged guest appearances by scores of newsmakers and political insiders - including congressmen, authors and scholars - for a mix of discussion and debate with bloggers, online journalists and digital strategists. Bluey is a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors Commission on Innovation and serves on the board of visitors for the Institute for Political Journalism. He frequently speaks about journalism, blogging and online strategy. Campaigns & Elections magazine named him a "Rising Star" in 2008. Politico placed him among Washington's "Top 50 Politicos." "He's an online entrepreneurial genius," Terry Jeffery, Cybercast News Service editor in chief, told Politics magazine. "He's taught people how to bypass the establishment media, and that's been so valuable to the conservative movement." In 2007, Bluey hosted Heritage's first Modern Media Strategies Workshop. He was among a select group of bloggers invited to the White House in 2006 to witness President George W. Bush's signing of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, legislation that won passage thanks to a public education effort by bloggers. He served as a coordinator for the Open House Project, an effort to increase government transparency in Congress. Before joining Heritage, Bluey was editor of HumanEvents.com for more than a year, transforming it into a popular destination for conservative journalism. He was assistant editor there for a year and also served as managing editor of the venerable print edition, Human Events. At Cybercast News Service, he covered the Republican and Democratic conventions in 2004 and reported on several high-profile Supreme Court cases.

Bluey grew up in upstate New York. He graduated from Ithaca College, and was editor of its award-winning newspaper, The Ithacan. While in high school, Bluey got his first newspaper job at the Clinton (N.Y.) Courier. In college, he worked for the digital media team of the Los Angeles Times. He was awarded a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund internship at the Traverse City (Mich.) Record-Eagle and a New York Press Association internship at the Clinton Courier.

After college, Bluey completed a yearlong fellowship at the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va. He remains closely involved with his alma mater, serving for six years on Ithaca College's Alumni Association Advisory Board of Directors.

Conservative, Think Tanks, Heritage Foundation,