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Matt Drudge Is Kind Of A Big Deal

THE NEW JOURNALISM’S STANDARD BEARER STIRS IT UP AGAIN

FITSNews - July 10, 2008 - There are still millions of Americans who have no idea who Matt Drudge is … but you better believe they know all about the dozens of big political stories that have gotten their start on his website.

Take yesterday’s “Testicle-gate” between Jesse Jackson and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, which Drudge singlehandedly turned into the week’s biggest political story. From the Washington Post ’s Chris Cillizza:

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.

“He can identify what’s a big deal even when the reporters who actually cover and report on an event don’t realize what they have,” said one GOP strategist granted anonymity to speak candidly. “He scoops reporters’ scoops.”

Drudge’s work in Washington has spawned numerous imitators at the state level, including the widely-read SC Hotline and (some would say) our own website. Both the Hotline and FITS certainly have the same “elite readership,” even if those elites swear up and down that they “don’t read the blogs.”

With mainstream media firmly on the road to marginalization (see here and here), Drudge’s prominence is the best example out there of the relentless ascent alternative news outlets are making to the top of the media mountain.

Plus, Drudge’s habit of dropping bombshells and then sitting back to revel in the chaos he creates is kind of endearing.

It certainly stands in stark contrast to the treatment the Jackson story received from FOX News, which spent more time last night trying to defuse criticism of its right-wing bias as it did actually covering the story itself.

Which we thought was sad.

But that’s not the point, of course. The point is that we actually broke from our typical Wednesday evening routine of modeling cute new lingerie while watching the Cubs play to check out what the Jesse fuss was all about … and that’s all because of Matt Drudge.

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