Some very kind words for the Drudge Report
Jack Shafer’s latest “Press Box” column on Slate.com praises the Drudge Report.
The article, titled “Don’t count Drudge out. His demise is overreported once again,” chronicles Drudge’s “rise and fall” through the years — at least in the eyes of other print and online media.
Shafer writes that Matt Drudge’s high and lows have always been exaggerated:
“Not to take anything away from Drudge, but he was never as important as his promoters made him out to be. Time embarrassed itself by calling him one the world’s 100 most influential people in 2006! He’s recorded ups and downs, hits and misses, scoops and errors, but he’s never approached the irrelevance his detractors would wish upon him.”
But Shafer’s overall opinion of Drudge is a very sound endorsement:
“What’s most remarkable about the Drudge Report after all these years is how efficient and useful it remains in the age of podcasts, Web video, RSS feeds, animations, interactive charts, interactive maps, slide shows, Digg buttons, Facebook widgets, comment pages, change-text-size buttons, print options, and all the rest….”
…If you could access only one home page for breaking news and chose Washingtonpost.com or CNN.com over the Drudge Report, you’d be a blockhead. His newswire-meets-tabloid sense of story - hysterical and playful at the same time - links to both what you need to know and what you want to know, and he updates more frequently than conventional media sites do.”
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Steve Parker is the deputy managing editor for news, and oversees the Post-Dispatch's front page. STLtoday's online news editors are on his newsroom team. Parker has been at the paper since September 1980. 
I check it every day
It reports on many things not found in the liberal news and is a good source.
It reports on many things not found in the liberal news and is a good source.
— Bernie H
…and that is EXACTLY why it is NOT essential “reading.” When people say “liberal news,” most times they are referring to “corporate news,” which is anything but. Saying that the Drudge Report is essential reading is like saying the O’Reilly Factor or Countdown with Keith Olbermann are essential viewing for those who seek out news. Those shows merely re-affirm already held opinions–they do not challenge or attempt to look at both sides of an issue.
Also–Drudge Report is nothing more than an aggregator site. Drudge himself is nothing more than a washed up ex-Hollywood hack who used to sift through trash cans to get dirt on celebrities.
If you truly want NEWS that at least attempts to be unbiased, check out PBS/NPR. Besides the tone being much more civil, the reporters actually have journalism credentials and understand the importance of reporting in a democracy.
The ‘Drudge Report’ was receiving about 15,000,000 hits a year or so ago.
These days it receives between 27,000,000 and 30,000,000 hits a day.
Some demise….
Don says, ‘If you truly want NEWS that at least attempts to be unbiased, check out PBS/NPR. Besides the tone being much more civil, the reporters actually have journalism credentials and understand the importance of reporting in a democracy.’
PBS/NPR unbiased?!?
When should the laughter die down?
Let’s just take one news story as an example:
Did you know that Barack Obama’s Chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was a board member of the board for Freddie Mac, in 2000-02 (which is right at the time of the height of the Freddie Mac accounting irregularities)? To some, Emanuel is tainted with scandal.
Would you expect to see or hear this on NPR? (No)
In the NY Times? (possibly, but likely not)
In the Post Dispatch? (No)
On Drudge Report? (Yes, likely)
Imperfect as it is, at this point in time, with the formerly mainstream press deeply biased in favor of Barack’s Socialist regime, Drudge serves a vital purpose as a voice for truth.
JR is correct.
The Drudge Report is a conduit for important news stories that will NEVER be published in other major news outlets…and it’s one of the major reasons why newspapers such as the LA Times, the New York Times and Time magazine are in a downward spiral due to circulation loss and ad revenue. Fewer and fewer people are trusting them anymore.
I haven’t trusted the mainstream media in almost twenty-five years - and their coverage of this year’s election was the absolute worst.
It truly was horrific and shameful.
Don says, ‘If you truly want NEWS that at least attempts to be unbiased, check out PBS/NPR. Besides the tone being much more civil, the reporters actually have journalism credentials and understand the importance of reporting in a democracy.’
PBS/NPR unbiased?!?
When should the laughter die down?
john c.–typical response from a conservative idealogue who probably thinks that ( for example) college drop-outs like Sean Hannity qualify as “journalists” and that Fox News’ slanted hatchet jobs are fair and balanced. My point was that some news outlets actually allow both sides of an issue to be covered by having reps from both sides appear or speak to the reporter…you wouldn’t know that since you apparently haven’t watched PBS or listened to NPR.
There is some bias in ALL media–it’s a matter of degrees. Intelligent people know that. You–apparently–don’t fall into that category.
haven’t trusted the mainstream media in almost twenty-five years - and their coverage of this year’s election was the absolute worst.
It truly was horrific and shameful.
You’re right–it WAS shameful…we never heard about Sarah’s palin’s bishop who believes in witch-craft and drove a woman out of a town in Kenya because he believed that her “evil forces” were responsible for a series of car accidents…or the fact that as mayor, she required rape victims to be BILLED for their own rape kits…or the fact that her husband had been a member up until a few years ago of the Alaska Secessionist Party–a RADICAL separatist group who threatened to break from the rest of the country and had violent tendencies.
We never heard about too much about BOTH of McCain’s spiritual advisors-one of whom called the Catholic Church the “great whore” and the other who demonized gays and Muslims…because you know that ALL Muslims are terrorists. We never heard much about Cindy McCain’s FELONY of stealing drugs from a charity organization and then copping to a stint in re-hab before they could nail her for a criminal act.
We never heard about McCain’s FAKE suspension of his campaign–fund-raising activities continued as did ads against his opponent while he flew into Washington to “fix things.” We never heard about his LIE that Obama didn’t visit troops in Iraq because the media wasn’t allowed in.
You do know that McCain refers to the media as his “base,” right?
Again–you don’t know your facts…but please continue making my point by spinning your selective trash…I am sure that tonight’s edition of the O’Really Factor will provide you with plenty of Talking Points.
Thank God for sites like Drudge and http://www.freerepublic.com to get info that the PD and other typical left-wing agenda news sources refuse to publish.
I am sure the new fascist Obamanation will force these sites off the web along with must listen to Rush Limbaugh for the truth. How sad that the Democrats won’t see this crush of free speech for what it is.
This is my first reading every AM for the hottest news and it is a local website that sadly the PD refuses to link to:
http://www.gatewaypundit.blogspot.com
yea sorry i havent checked it out especially with all of their “breaking news” especially the one about the campaign worker who was attacked by a black obama supporter who happened to carve a backwards b for barack on her face, they were the first to report this story how thorough of them to research that story before printing it.