November 14th, 2025

A special edition.

EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Washington Reporter’s premiere event with Google

by Matthew Foldi

The Washington Reporter continued its premiere events in Washington, D.C. at Google’s D.C. office featuring Eliana Johnson, the editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon.

Johnson joined the Reporter’s CEO, Brian Colas, on stage for an event that focused on the past, present, and uncharted future of conservative media.

“The Washington Reporter was thrilled to partner with Google to host the deeply-respected Eliana Johnson before a packed room of nearly 100 Hill, administration, and downtown staff,” Colas told the Reporter following the event. “Google has been a tremendous partner, and its products are essential to how we run our newsroom. We appreciate their leadership in elevating serious, objective journalism in Washington.”

Johnson, for her part, told the audience that, while her path to journalism was unorthodox, that “if you’re a person, you can be a news outlet.” As a new reporter, Johnson met a cast of characters who have served her well in the years since, including Sean Hannity and Bari Weiss. Now, she helms one of the most important outlets in conservative media.

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“We have a lot of young kids working for us,” Johnson explained. “25 people work at the Beacon, most of them are under 30. Get to know them outside of just pitching them stories. Don’t send some pitch that has italicized font on some things and bold on other things that you’re sending to a hundred people. Reporters want exclusives and they want to break news.”

Johnson told the audience of policy professionals how to get their messages out there.

“The best pitches aren’t [actually] pitches,” Johnson explained when asked how to effectively get messages into outlets. They’re actually “where you know the person, you call them up, you have an ask, they have an ask.”

“I can’t tell you how many pitches I get that betray zero knowledge of what the Beacon is and what kind of things we cover.” The Reporter’s Matthew Foldi echoed the importance of reading and understanding outlets before pitching them, when Colas turned the question over to him too.

Christy Woodruff from Google added her advice about the importance of “networking” as well when Colas asked her about how to succeed in environments like D.C.

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Among those spotted in attendance were Jonathan Wilcox, Hannah Eddins, Grace Newton, Paul Foldi, Pam Stevens, Charlie Roth, Mark Fraenkel, Haley Strack, Cassie Scher, Kesi Lumumba, Khadija Butt, and Raylene Parkinson.

A message from our sponsor.

President Trump promised to protect Medicare for seniors — but the No UPCODE Act would cut Medicare Advantage by billions of dollars. This after cuts from the previous administration have already reduced benefits and increased costs for millions of beneficiaries. Protect seniors. Stop the No UPCODE Act.