Meet The Daily Signal’s Team of Journalists
Olivia Pero /
Ten years after its creation, The Daily Signal enters a new era Monday as its own independent organization.
Today, its dedicated team of reporters and editors serve an audience of millions of Americans who rely on The Daily Signal to produce high-quality news stories and publish insightful commentary and analysis.
The team consists of 12 full-time staff, two fellows, two interns, and many contributors. Learn more about them below and see other Daily Signal authors.
Virginia Allen
Senior News Producer and Podcast Host
After interning at The Heritage Foundation in the spring of 2018, Allen began her career as a communications department administrative assistant. After two years, she moved into a position with The Daily Signal in spring of 2020. Allen says she will never forget the experiences she has had reporting from the U.S. southern border. She deeply respects NewsNation reporter Ali Bradley for her bold and honest coverage of the southern border situation. Allen’s goal for The Daily Signal in 2024 is to increase podcast quality with even stronger coverage of the daily news and major policy issues facing the nation.
Rob Bluey
President and Executive Editor
As the founding editor-in-chief of The Daily Signal, Bluey always dreamed of building a news outlet at Heritage from the moment he started his job in 2007. Having previously covered Congress as a reporter, he saw an opportunity to marry Heritage’s policy expertise with rich storytelling. He models his own approach to journalism on the work of the now-deceased syndicated columnist Robert Novak. He has big hopes for The Daily Signal’s future by putting a stronger emphasis on video, pursuing investigative reporting, and expanding its Capitol Hill coverage and political commentary.
Hudson Crozier
News Intern
Crozier was selected to be a summer 2024 intern at The Daily Signal. He continues to build his writing portfolio and learn from The Daily Signal’s talented, experienced staff as he advances his own budding journalism career. One of his biggest inspirations in conservative media is The Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan for her fearless reporting on important cultural issues. Crozier hopes to become a more productive writer and reporter through the internship.
Brian Gottstein
Senior Editor and Writing Adviser
After working as the official writer for Heritage’s previous president, Gottstein became a writing adviser. In that role, he helps policy analysts to write more compelling op-eds geared toward educating policymakers and the general public. The role also includes editing for The Daily Signal and managing the other editors. Gottstein enjoys the entertaining and useful writings of John Stossel. This year, Gottstein wants to help grow The Daily Signal audience significantly because he thinks Americans often cannot get the unique news, commentary, policy analysis, and solutions to some of America’s biggest issues anywhere else.
Tim Kennedy
News Producer
Kennedy recently moved to The Daily Signal from digital production at Heritage to help improve video content while furthering the outlet’s investigative ambitions. Previously, he oversaw the day-to-day production of digital content. Kennedy is proud of his work with colleagues Virginia Allen and Christian Lasval to report exclusively on illegal aliens driving unlicensed mopeds and motorcycles in Washington, D.C. His favorite memory on the job is traveling to Maui to cover Hawaii’s wildfires. Kennedy admires Dutch historian Frank Dikötter’s books that document the now-deceased Chinese communist dictator Mao Zedong’s reign of terror. This year, he wants to see The Daily Signal’s social channels reach No. 1 in Forbes’ annual social media ranking of free-market organizations.
Tony Kinnett
Investigative Columnist
Since Heritage’s Lindsey Burke recruited Kinnett for investigative column writing in 2022, he has written The Daily Signal’s most-read article of 2023, “California Bill Would Charge Any Parent Who Doesn’t Affirm Transgenderism With ‘Child Abuse.’” It resulted in backlash so intense that California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the legislation. Flying to Maui to cover the wildfires with Tim Kennedy is Kinnett’s favorite memory at The Daily Signal. This year, he hopes to help create The Daily Signal’s first Instagram video with more than 5 million views or to syndicate his radio show to three stations. His top two media role models are Ben Shapiro and Chris Rufo.
Fred Lucas
Chief News Correspondent
Lucas is an accomplished journalist, veteran White House correspondent, and author with extensive experience in political reporting. As The Daily Signal’s chief news correspondent, he covers a wide range of topics and uses his investigative skills to uncover the truth. He has a keen ability to distill complex issues into clear, compelling stories. He is also the author of several books, including “The Myth of Voter Suppression: The Left’s Assault on Clean Elections” and “Tainted by Suspicion: The Secret Deals and Electoral Chaos of Disputed Presidential Elections.” Lucas previously reported from state capitals in Kentucky and Connecticut and is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Elise McCue
Digital Fellow
McCue was a Daily Signal intern during the summer 2023 session. She is proud of the breadth of topics she covered during her internship. One of McCue’s favorite memories at The Daily Signal was joining the staff at a Turning Point USA conference in Florida to promote the outlet. Emily Jashinsky, director of the National Journalism Center, is McCue’s journalism role model because she has made a name for herself by speaking boldly and unapologetically while still practicing thoughtful journalism. As the digital media fellow, McCue hopes to help make The Daily Signal a household name for conservative news.
Ken McIntyre
Senior Editor
Along with Rob Bluey and Katrina Trinko, McIntyre helped found The Daily Signal in 2014. At the time, he was in his seventh year as an editor in Heritage’s communications department following a 30-year career as a reporter and editor at weekly and daily newspapers. McIntyre is proud of his work helping Daily Signal reporters and other contributors to capture the importance and consequences of public policy challenges and solutions in their news stories and commentaries. During his time with The Daily Signal, his favorite memory is when he helped interview, hire, and develop The Daily Signal’s first three full-time reporters.
Kevin Mooney
Investigative Reporter
Mooney came to work at The Daily Signal after reporting for the State Policy Network, a nonprofit organization, on how the IRS was targeting tea party activists during the Obama administration. The Daily Signal became the ideal platform for Mooney to expand on that coverage when a Virginia farmer, in a long-standing legal dispute with environmental activists, became caught up in the IRS controversy. Mooney admires the work Ken McIntyre and Peter Parisi do as editors on his articles. He aims to investigate new topics this year, such as election integrity, the border crisis, and cultural disputes involving radical public school curriculums.
Tyler O’Neil
Managing Editor
O’Neil came to The Daily Signal after working as a Fox News Digital editor and as a PJ Media editor. His passion for conservative journalism and the truth led O’Neil to write his book, “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center.” O’Neil loves bringing his family to Capitol Hill events and connecting with people at The Daily Signal. In journalism, he most looks up to G.K. Chesterton. O’Neil hopes to increase The Daily Signal’s website traffic, get himself and his colleagues on TV more often, and help develop the original and exclusive reporting that drives conversation.
Mary Margaret Olohan
Senior Reporter
Olohan came to work at The Daily Signal after working at the Daily Caller News Foundation. Her most influential Daily Signal project to date was coverage of high school girls in Vermont who pushed back against a boy identifying as a girl who was using their locker room. One of Olohan’s favorite memories at The Daily Signal was going to the Big Board, a bar in Washington, D.C., to report on the stripping of its liquor license for refusal to enforce COVID-19 mask mandates. This year, she would like to identify the leaker of the Supreme Court draft opinion for Roe v. Wade. Olohan’s journalism role model is Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist.
Peter Parisi
Editor
Parisi joined The Daily Signal after responding to a posting on a journalism jobs board. He had previously worked at The Washington Times for 10 years with Ken McIntyre. Parisi enjoys sharing the benefit of his many years of writing and editing experience with interns, adding that getting thank-you notes from departing interns after each semester makes it all worthwhile. He relishes the challenge of compiling and editing policy analysts’ and reporters’ analyses of presidential State of the Union addresses and presidential candidates’ debates under intense deadline pressure. His journalistic role models include the now-deceased talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh and current talk-radio host Chris Plante. This year, Parisi hopes to write a column that makes the top 10 in that month’s tally of The Daily Signal’s most-read pieces.
Olivia Pero
News Intern
Pero is a summer 2024 Daily Signal intern. A rising senior at Hillsdale College, she is a staff member of the college’s newspaper, The Collegian. Having interned with The Daily Caller’s video production department in the summer of 2023, Pero is eager to develop her writing and reporting skills this summer. She looks up to the journalistic work of John J. Miller, director of the journalism program at Hillsdale. During her time at The Daily Signal, Pero hopes to become a sharper thinker and stronger writer, and one day to decide on a beat topic to specialize in.
Sarah Sleem
Fact-Checker and Proofreader
Sleem has worked at The Daily Signal since graduating from Christopher Newport University in 2014. Her greatest accomplishment with the outlet has been taking on various roles and working with people who have helped her to sharpen her journalism skills. Sleem’s favorite memory at The Daily Signal is covering the 2016 election results with the team. Everyone worked together very quickly to get information out to the public. One of her favorite journalists is Virginia Allen, who she says is a natural at reporting and interviewing. Sleem hopes to help The Daily Signal team out in whatever way she can this year in order to keep people informed about what’s going on in Washington, D.C., and how it affects them.
Jarrett Stepman
Columnist
Stepman previously worked at Human Events and Breitbart News. He describes his book “The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America’s Past” as his top accomplishment. A memory that sticks out to Stepman is when he covered a socialist conference in Chicago that foreshadowed the Left’s embrace of transgenderism. As a columnist, he looks up to Victor Davis Hanson for combining clear, concise thought with factual depth and history. Stepman plans to have a second book in the works by the end of the year.
Katrina Trinko
Editor-in-Chief
Trinko joined The Daily Signal in 2014 to help develop the strategy for a new news outlet focused on quality reporting of issues that interest conservatives. She is grateful to lead a team that has fearlessly reported on hot-button topics, such as detransitioners, Obamacare, the border, and more. Trinko fondly remembers fast-paced nights when the team worked on election coverage, brainstorming and reacting together in real time, pizza in hand, while working to provide the best journalism it could for The Daily Signal’s audience.
Elizabeth Troutman
Reporting Fellow
Troutman joins The Daily Signal as a reporting fellow after interning at the media outlet in the spring of 2023. As an intern, she covered Tucker Carlson’s speech at Heritage’s 50th Anniversary Gala. The article blew up a few days after the announcement that Carlson was no longer with Fox News. Troutman’s journalism role model is Mary Margaret Olohan, because she admires Olohan’s bravery in covering controversial stories, her drive, and her constant ability to get amazing news scoops. With this being Troutman’s first full-time job in journalism, she hopes to write a lot and break many untold stories.
