6 Pundits Who Rocked the Media

Culture
By Caira Conner

Editor's note: This story is part of a community-oriented, weekly article series in which Community Manager Caira Conner discusses how to get the most out of PolicyMic.

As community manager, I hear a lot of good stuff when I ask our pundits about the things they hope will happen when they use PolicyMic. Some want it to be a professional springboard into full-time reporting. Some joined to learn the tricks of the trade of writing for a particular vertical. Some just need a dedicated forum for their cause they can't find elsewhere. (I, for one, joined for the fame and the glory). 

What's especially wonderful is when PolicyMic can help pundits do what they set out to do, and one of those things is getting mentioned in other media outlets. Below is a mere sampling of the places PolicyMic-ers appeared in the past few weeks, and we extend a huge congrats to ALL of our community members who are showing up around the web.

Want advice on getting mentioned in the news? Join us on Twitter (#TalkPM) with your questions, feedback, and good jokes for a live community discussion Wednesday, September 25 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

1. Carmen Rios, The New York Times (Sept 4)

The New York Times honored Carmen Rios with a well-deserved shout out for her for work on rape prevention. In March, Carmen petitioned the National Federation of State High School Associations to offer a course to coaches each year focused on sexual assault prevention; they responded by creating a coalition to educate 11 million students.

2. Renee Davidson, Women's Media Awards (Sept 10)

Renee Davidson was nominated for a 2013 Women's Media Center Social Media Award. Renee is part of an exceptionally talented, gender-justice oriented group of bloggers, gurus and activists up for the award. Congrats!

3. Brett Scruton, HuffPost Live (Sept 11)

Brett Scruton joined HuffPost Live to weigh in on potential ramifications in Syria following President Obama's September 10 speech concerning use of chemical weapons. Brett wrote a follow-up for PolicyMic, questioning what the U.S. has learned in the past decade.  

4. Cameron English, RealClearScience (Sept 18)

Pundit Cameron English caught the attention of RealClearScience with his analysis on ways diet can affect, and possibly prevent, memory loss. Cameron's PolicyMic story centered around a study by Nature Neurosience, and its use of fruit flies to to test the impact of certain nutrients on memory. 

5. Katie Halper, Feministing (Sept 19)

Katie Halper is flying up the ranks at Feministing, joining the crew as an editor this month. Katie has contributed to the blog since 2011 and regularly covers feminism and politics all over the web.

6. Anjana Sreedhar, Salon (Sept 22)

Anjana Sreedhar's excellent critique of new TV show Dads was featured on Salon (and later tweeted by them, too). Her article explored the historic perpetuation of offensive Asian stereotypes, and the consequences of celebrating these trope-oriented roles in television.

Stirring up debate on the web? Email me (caira@policymic.com) (Subj: PolicyMic Press Mention) with a name of the publication and link to the article, and we'll try to include in our press mention round-up.