Posted on 07/10/2008 11:28:00 AM PDT by kristinn
There's little debate that Matt Drudge and his eponymous website sit at the junction of politics and journalism in the modern media age.
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And yet, for anyone who follows the day in, day out nitty-gritty of campaign politics (as we do) it is well worth reminding yourself of how much power Drudge has to push a particular storyline or a broader narrative in the race.
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"Drudge has become center court at Wimbledon," said Alex Castellanos, a Republican media consultant and adviser to former governor Mitt Romney's presidential bid. "If it doesn't happen there, it doesn't happen."
What explains Drudge's reach?
In interviews with more than a dozen operatives -- many of whom are rightly classified "Drudge-ologists" for their intimate study of the likes and dislikes of the man and the site -- two major reasons are offered.
First and foremost, is the depth -- and the quality -- of Drudge's readership. Drudge's number of unique visitors is regularly touted but what is more important, in terms of his ability to drives news cycles, is that every reporter and editor who covers politics is checking the site multiple times a day.
Phil Singer, former deputy communications director for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign and now a Democratic consultant, called Drudge's "elite readership" a key to his influence. Singer added that a walk through any press filing center at a debate reveals every other laptop, at least, has Drudge's website up on its screen.
The second major reason for Drudge's influence, according to the Fix's informal poll of Drudge-ologists is his ability to sniff out a potentially big story when others -- including reporters -- miss it at first glance.
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(Excerpt) Read more at blog.washingtonpost.com ...
People still go to Drudge? Wow how 90s.
When you have about 20 million hits a day on your site, you are not only 90s but 21st century as well.
He means to say "his ability to sniff out a potentially big story when others -- especially reporters -- ignore it again and again. "
I only occasionally hit Drudge nowadays.
But as a pioneer, I salute him. He proved that the MSM can no longer cover up stories in the internet age. Newsweek tried to sit on the Monica story so he ran with it. And the rest is history. For a few short years, it made for a hilarious situation, where the MSM would refuse to cover Clinton scandals and disgruntled reporters would simply slip the scoops to Matt.
Now there are many Drudges, as well as talk radio and Fox news. The MSM would have loved to sit on the Jesse Jackson tape, but when they knew that Fox would run with it they knew they had to as well.
I check Drudge when I get in to the office around 7:00 a.m., then sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 after he has updated the site. I rarely check it after that unless I read on FR that there’s a “lights and sirens” story on Drudge. I check FR about every hour—yes, I am a news junkie.
Really, I don’t believe the premise of the article, therefore I suspect it’s conclusions. The Drudge Report doesn’t really have anything original, it is aesthetically unpleasing, and I don’t see very much about it on FreeRepublic, which is the definitive source for any news worth reading or talking about. Drudge probably gets a lot of his stuff right here. FreeRepublic is my Home Page.
FreeRepublic has everything but your local weather, and if its something major they have that too!
( There is a reason for my tagline! )
As welll he should...
Drudge is my homepage. Good for you Drudge!
http://www.libertyroundtable.org/library/essay.drudge.html
Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World
Address Before the National Press Club
by Matt Drudge, June 2, 1998
Moderator: Doug Harbrecht
MR. HARBRECHT: Good afternoon and welcome to the National Press Club. This is our 90th anniversary year. My name is Doug Harbrecht. I’m president of the National Press Club and Washington news editor of Business Week magazine, a McGraw-Hill Companies publication.
I’d like to welcome Club members and their guests in the audience today, as well as those of you watching on C-SPAN or listening to this program on National Public Radio.
I must confess, my first reaction to having our speaker today at the National Press Club was the same as a lot of other members - was the same as what a lot of other members of the Club have had: Why do we want to give a forum to that guy?
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Too much focus on the “Gay” issue on his site for me.
Me too. What the heck has happened to me. I have listened to talk radio for a while, except Hannity drives me crazy sometimes. But there are so many news articles on here, it’s like I can’t let go.
“I don’t ever read Drudge anymore. Anything up there will be on FR in 3 minutes and a whole bunch more that never makes it to Drudge.”
Me too. His site is no longer easy for me. It runs movies that I have to abort and it take too much time. Not worth it.
Bill O’Reilly is an unhappy man.
When I log on the first site I go to is the Drudgereport.
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