A Surprising New Media Opponent
Matt Drudge's Strange Blogosphere Opposition
Boy, am I setting myself up for charges of hypocrisy, here at the Radio Equalizer!
First, I go after Michael Savage for his nonstop attacks on Fox News, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge, now I have my own beef with the latter.
Of course, the issue with Savage has been his relentless lambasting of conservatives, for the high crime of not promoting his new book enough.
Doesn't the 100 times an hour Savage mentions the title on his show satisfy its promotional requirements (by the way, I do still listen, in case you're wondering)?
I've enjoyed reading the Drudge Report as much as anyone and when my Seattle radio station firing made national news last September, Drudge had a prominently-placed link to the AP story near the top of the page, for almost three days.
So I've had nothing to complain about.
I've been wondering for a long time, however, about one thing: why no blogs at the Drudge Report? He doesn't link to them down below and rarely references them in top headlines or his own reports.
There have only been a few exceptions to this that I've witnessed so far. Rathergate comes to mind as one.
Why? The Washington Post gets him to spill the beans:
(Washington Post- Howard Kurtz- 25 April 2005)
As he approaches his 10th anniversary as an online clearinghouse for forthcoming news stories, unreleased books, tabloid yarns, Hollywood chatter and unconfirmed, sometimes bogus, rumors, Drudge, 38, is now treated more as an amusing diversion than a threat to journalistic integrity. The white-hot debate these days is over the role of bloggers, whom Drudge says dismissively he doesn't bother reading.
Has the quirky kid from Takoma Park become an appendage of the media establishment he once tormented, a '90s relic eclipsed by smarter and more provocative online writers?
Drudge complains about new sites that are "all glib, all mockery." He grumbles about "the hideous pace" of Internet news and says "the big boys" -- the big newspapers whose scoops he used to pilfer -- are "becoming more competitive" with faster online reports. And, he admits, "I probably am taking myself more seriously than 10 years ago."
Isn't this peculiar, of all the people to dismiss blogs, it's Internet pioneer Matt Drudge?
At a time when even stuffy newspapers sometimes feature blog links, CBS staffers have them and most of the mainstream media has been forced to admit they exist, the big holdout is the guy who took them all on first?
Is there anything that makes less sense? Is he threatened by the blogosphere? What about the enormous amount of traffic sent to his site every day through blog referrals?
It's funny, because many people reach my site through regional news or radio trade sites that can slightly resemble Drudge: Orbusmax, RadioDailyNews and CapeCodToday, for example.
These guys are not afraid of blogs, they have whole sections for them.
How's this for irony: the LA Times admits the Radio Equalizer exists (even if it takes a few tries to get the name right), but Matt Drudge won't? Now I'm really starting to sound like Savage!
I hope I wasn't the only one that noticed Drudge's strange statement. Will others ask him what's going on here?
Okay, so I'm a hypocrite, go ahead and say it!
published by Brian Maloney at
08:01
2 Comments:
In reading your comments, I fail to understand why Drudge, who I've admired in the past and present, is hesistant and seemingly afraid to link to good & honest blogs. Could it be that he's concerned about the competition since blog's are the reliable source of political news, generally speaking?
As far as Savage is concerned, I can listen to him for approximately 5 minutes before I start turning green. That man is wayyyyy too angry for my taste, and based on the number of times he pushes his books, I refuse to buy them from such a narcissitic individual. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing him bash my President. Listening to Savage could cause any individual to become a flaming alcoholic.
By
Anonymous, at 28 April, 2005 12:34
To be fair to Mr. Drudge: he has included a link to Andrew Sullivan's blog for at least five years. That was how I discovered both Mr. Sullivan and blogs in general.
Mr. Drudge also links to Kaus Files. He's happy to link to blogs -- as long as the bloggers are media figures. That's still pretty ironic.
By
Anonymous, at 29 April, 2005 03:14
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