Matt Drudge [TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people]

TIME Magazine ^ | April 24, 2006 | ANA MARIE COX

[West Coast Conservative]

So Matt Drudge was right. Not about Bill Clinton's love child or John Kerry's affair, but he was right about this: "We are all newsmen now." Drudge hates the word blogger, yet his exclusive about the former President and intern Monica Lewinsky set out an animated-gif siren for an army of armchair pundits to follow. Today a flotilla of freelance fact checkers make life more difficult for the salaried employees of what has come to be known as the MSM, or mainstream media. With 10 million readers daily, Drudge, 39, has paved a generous path for the blogs; without his example, semipro scribes might not have unearthed "Rathergate." Of course, the price for such cyberscoops has been the coarsening of the evening news; Drudge has goaded traditional media into playing catch-up on sordid stories they once safely ignored.

But just because Drudge has followers doesn't mean anyone can fill his shoes. The fedora, acquired long before the profiles started and yet, one suspects, in anticipation of them, his whine, his obsession with injured pets—Drudge may have seen journalism's future, but he's also a throwback to its past. It's easy to imagine him at an old Hearst paper, staging photos and conjuring wars. Now the source of a seven-figure income,drudgereport.com hasn't changed much in eight years. A ludicrous combination of gossip, political intrigue and extreme weather reports, it's still put together mostly by the guy who started out as a convenience-store clerk. Of his big break, he is both modest and defiant: "It took just two fingers, a modem and guts," he once told Miami New Times. "And not giving a [well, you know]!" Matt Drudge may have lowered standards, but in the MSM we still can't curse.

[Paladin2]

MSM --> LSM ---> DBM.

They need to keep up with the pajamahedin.

[Wheee The People]

Drudge is OK...but you need a pop-up blocker.

[TexasTransplant]

Is his website safe to visit yet?

A Russian Mafia website probably has less intrusive clinging bs on it.

TT

[buckeyesrule]

****Matt Drudge was right. Not about Bill Clinton's love child****

All Matt Drudge reported then was that a certain newspaper was reporting that about Bill Clinton.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

"Drudge, 39, has paved a generous path for the blogs; without his example, semipro scribes might not have unearthed "Rathergate."

Always the self-promoter that Drudge. Here's to the real 'semipro scribes' of FRee Republic

[jdm]

"All Matt Drudge reported then was that a certain newspaper was reporting that about Bill Clinton."

I believe Newsweak had the story, was afraid to run it, so Matt exposed what the magazine decided against printing.

[CedarDave]

Founder of the blog Wonkette, Cox is a Time.com columnist

Another lib...

[manwiththehands]

Matt Drudge is one of the Godfathers of the "new media". I couldn't say who is more influential: him or Rush Limbaugh.

[Slings and Arrows]

Another lib...

A hard-core lefty. She got started at Suck.com and interned at Mother Jones.

[CedarDave]

Matt Drudge [TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people]

Since Jim Robinson's Free Republic unraveled the Dan Rather/CBS lies regarding the President's national guard service, where does he appear on the list?

/sar

[socal_parrot]

The "Whitewater" link on The Drudge Report brought many, including me, to Free Republic for the first time.

[BunnySlippers]

Me as well.

[Uncle Hal]

Say what you want about Matt. But he has probably changed Internet reporting as much as anybody else. His column is a must read for virtually everybody that is a news junkie. He is one of the first reports I read when I log on in the morning. He will always be remembered for exposing the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. Matt is a legend is his own time and I am sure his column is up there when it comes to hits were day.

[gaijin]

JEALOUSY!!!

[NormsRevenge]

When those reporting the news are considered to be as important as the news being reported,, Where's the news in that?

Uhhh,, am I missing something here?

[Paladin2]

You're missing that the DBM never compares their poll ratings to Bush's.

[gaijin]

it's still put together mostly by the guy who started out as a convenience-store clerk

You see their JEALOUSY?

They have to try and tear him down because of their pent-up resentment. Matt writes the headlines, he gives the mainstream their marching orders even if he doesn't think the same way. And you know what? That bothers the hell out of them.

Remember 4 months back, when journalists at the WaPo lamented in shock that real estate was getting so that THEY, THE EXALTED JOURNALISTS couldn't afford housing in Manhattan?

For decades journalists have been getting paid what they wanted, and they have acted to buttress the establishment instead of questioning it.

And amazingly, they treasured this misplaced self-image as maverick, underdog outsiders. YET HERE, THEY BLAST MATT, THE ULTIMATE OUTSIDER, AS WHITE TRASH.

Well, which is it?

Doesn't matter cuz their stock WILL CONTINUE TO SINK.

LEGACY MEDIA: BUGGY-WHIP SALESMEN OF THE 21st CENTURY

[NormsRevenge]

good point.. neither does Congre$$. ;-)

[3catsanadog]

I got to Free Republic by way of the old Fox News forum on the Delphi boards.