There is no shortage of news sites. This global media environment in which we find ourselves means news outlets like the Washington Post never have an exclusive. They might be the source, but within moments after they post an exclusive story, others are already all over the report.
I’m all for proper attribution. If we ever put our insights into a story, regardless of the source, we will attribute it. That’s our prerogative just as Matt Drudge has the prerogative to link to whatever sites he chooses on his popular news aggregator. The difference between us and Drudge is that the Washington Post didn’t directly attack us, nor do we account for 30% of their traffic. I recently posted an article saying Drudge should stop linking to the leftist mainstream media site:
Of course Matt Drudge should stop linking to the Washington Post
Matt Drudge, the controversial conservative news aggregating pundit who has been breaking political news stories for a quarter century, was the target of a hit piece in the Washington Post. The liberal mainstream media site claims Drudge Report linked to Russian propaganda during the 2016 election season.
The irony of the story is that Drudge Report often links to Washington Post itself. In a Tweet, the provocateur claims to have linked to over 10,000 stories and is the source of 37% of their traffic.
I stand by that assertion and half-expected Drudge to stop. It wasn’t because of any I or anyone else wrote. It was because they directly attacked him and his character. They don’t deserve the right-leaning traffic he sends them, yet he persists. He hasn’t even really slowed down.
A current link on his site goes to a WaPo story about Arab warnings mounting about President Trump’s plan to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. This isn’t an exclusive. It wasn’t the source. Others reported it first. Several reported it better. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of people will now go to the WaPo story instead of sources that did not attack Drudge or his site.
Some may say he’s taking the high road. I would consider this as a possibility if he hadn’t lashed out at them before continuing to link to them. There are only two possible reasons for this and both are acceptable in my books. They’re either paying him (unlikely) or he’s just being lazy. That’s not being delivered as an insult; he’s earned the right to be lazy after decades of promoting conservative and often offbeat content. Heck, I grew up going to sites Drudge pointed me to because I was against the mainstream media before it became cool. Nevertheless, it’s disappointing that he still supports them when there are great right-leaning sites with equivalent or better content on the same exact subjects as WaPo.
