"Matt Drudge's Secret Coconspirator"
by Rogers Cadenhead
April 3, 2003
Am I the only one that didn't know that Matt had a partner?Here is a short excerpt from www.miami.com:I always thought it was a one man operation.
Linking news sites, Matt Drudge creates an Internet success
rpachter@herald.comMatt Drudge, Internet personality, is a self-styled seeker of the truth, specifically of hidden and obscured truths. If there's a Drudge brand he'd like to convey, it's of the relentless, rumpled, ever-vigilant newsman -- always connected and plugged into his network of operatives.
The truth is a bit less dramatic.
From his Miami Beach condo, Drudge monitors television news channels and websites on three computers set up in his home office. Using WindowsXP and other off-the-shelf software, he updates his website, Drudgereport.com , several times a day.
Contributors to traditional print and broadcast media sometimes derisively refer to Drudge, who gained national notoriety for his postings during the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair, as a gossip monger -- or worse. But Drudge, 36, has turned Drudgereport.com into quite a tidy enterprise.
By his own estimate, the former convenience-store clerk makes about $1.2 million a year, including revenue from his nationally syndicated Sunday night radio show, which airs locally on WIOD.
His Internet site is mainly a portal, an index of news stories that appear on newspaper and wire-service websites. He writes catchy headlines for his top links, augmented by his own stories based on tips from his virtual network of Internet informants -- many employed by mainstream print and broadcast outlets.
Much of his information during the Clinton impeachment investigation came from leaks from journalists and political operatives.
So what does that make Drudge?
''I'm a newsman and not a journalist,'' he said in a recent interview, ''nor a cyber this or that.''
Since his site is primarily composed of links to stories on other sites and is a Web log, commonly called a blog, how about a blogger?
''Nope. Sounds too much like booger,'' he said.
Drudge describes his own politics as libertarian (with a small L), though his part as a catalyst in what some called ''the vast right-wing conspiracy'' that precipitated the impeachment hearings brought him a dedicated right-of-center following, which he continues to cultivate.
Contrary to popular perception, his is not a solo act; his longtime friend and associate Andrew Breitbart, a Californian, monitors and updates the site when Drudge himself is asleep or away...
The other guy posts stuff after hours.