Media Frenzy

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

By Rob Holbert

Managing editor

Mr. Hillyer is going back to Washington.

That is to say, Quin Hillyer, Mobile Register editorial writer and columnist, is headed to the nation’s capital later this month to take over as executive editor of American Spectator magazine. For the past eight years, Hillyer has pounded out the opinionated prose on the Register’s Op-Ed pages. Now he takes editorial control of one of the country’s best-known conservative political publications. (Alright, I’ll stop with the “P” alliteration.)

Hillyer says the “dream job” basically fell into his lap, the end result of an interested third party putting him and the magazine together.

“It was sort of out of the blue through third party acquaintances, who, without my knowledge, at first mentioned me to them (the magazine),” he explained.

Hillyer, who attended college at Georgetown University and later worked for Louisiana Congressman Bob Livingston, is obviously quite familiar with Washington, DC and the political scene. Hillyer also spent time working for Gambit, the New Orleans alternative weekly newspaper, as well as time in Little Rock, Ark., before coming aboard at the Register.

Hillyer describes the Spectator as “the premier conservative monthly journal of politics and culture.” Running the magazine’s editorial side is “one of the top four or five jobs in conservative journalism or conservative punditry,” Hillyer said.

Hillyer described his duties as helping to set the publication’s editorial agenda, as well as continuing to write.

“I hope to do investigative, conservative analysis,” he said.

Additionally, Hillyer says he expects to become a regular on the “talking head” circuit, something to which he’s actually looking forward. He has appeared several times a year on Alabama Public Television’s “For the Record” program, as well as similar shows while working in Little Rock.

“I’m supposed to help raise the magazine’s profile by being a talking head,” he said.

Hillyer makes no bones about his conservative viewpoint and says being labeled a “conservative” in the predominantly liberal field of journalism left him with few avenues to pursue. He said it is “absolutely, positively” difficult for a known conservative who has left journalism to return to it in any other capacity than as an opinion maker, while the same does not hold true for those of a liberal bent.

“A liberal can cross back to the mainstream almost at will, e.g. George Stephanopoulos,” Hillyer explained. “If you’re a conservative and you’re tagged as a conservative, opinion journalism is all there is.”

Still, he’s not complaining, because opinion journalism is what he loves. American Spectator competes for attention with such publications as The Nation and National Review. The Spectator is probably still best known for its pieces during the first years of the Clinton Administration, bringing to the fore such names as Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers and Whitewater.

“During the early Clinton years, they were breaking some of the biggest stories in the country,” Hillyer said.

His job now is to help get the 35,000-circulation magazine in front of a bigger audience. He says it will be done by keeping the copy “cutting with a sense of humor.”

Hillyer said leaving the Register is bittersweet, as he has greatly enjoyed his time in Mobile.

“The Register is a fantastic place to work. I’m not sure the people of Mobile realize what a quality newspaper they have,” he said.

His first day of work with the Spectator is Feb. 27.

New agency in town

Two men long familiar in the Port City’s advertising/marketing scene recently joined forces to form a new agency. Chris Kalifeh and Steve Harrelson formed Harrelson-Kalifeh in January as an advertising and marketing agency.

Harrelson is best known for his work running the LPGA tournament for the past four years, while Kalifeh was director of sales at WPMI, the city’s NBC affiliate, for the past decade.

Kalifeh said the two have already landed a number of clients, including Roberts Brothers Realty and serving as general counsel for Kyle Callaghan’s bid for sheriff. He added that getting to work on political campaigns is one of the reasons he wanted to move to the other side of the advertising equation.

Kalifeh said they’ll also be working with marketing for Ladd-Peebles Stadium and trying to revive the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star high school football game.

One thing Kalifeh said led him to want to leave WPMI and start his own agency was the time it would afford him to do charity work and take on project dear to him. One of those is working to protect unborn children, what Kalifeh calls “unborn innocents.” Kalifeh says he isn’t really interested in seeing abortion laws overturned, but would rather try to use his advertising and marketing skills to change the way they think.

“Let’s get people to change their perceptions,” he said. “Adoption is a great choice.”

Kalifeh says he’ll spend some part of every day working on that project.

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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