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This web journalist has such an impact on the Internet that last week he managed to cause consternation in the White House-and this was not the first time. He flagged a story Newsweek had been sitting on for six months: that President Clinton may have propositioned a White House worker named Kathleen Willey on federal property. .
I found an article on the Internet that seemed to sum up exactly what people's opinion on Drudge is, very mixed:.
"The best thing about the Internet is Matt Drudge. He knows how to use the online medium. He prizes speed, being first, and he connects strongly with an audience that wants personality and gossip. The worst thing about the Internet is Matt Drudge. He caters to the lowest common denominator. He gets stories wrong. He makes traditional journalists very uncomfortable. We don't want him to represent us. But do we have a choice?" .
What made Drudge tick and become such a Net phenomenon? He started poking his nose where others feared to tread-the White House. He broke the Kathleen Willey story: she was the reluctant witness for the Paula Jones defense team-a White House employee who was "comforted" by the president when she feared her husband might be in trouble. And Drudge certainly got the attention of the White House with his story. .
It obviously doesn't seem right to condone irresponsible reporting, but it should be pointed out that Drudge is not a journalist-and never claimed to be. Drudge is an Information Age pioneer in a much uncharted territory. He doesn't live by the same standards as the press.
Newspaper companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars-perhaps billions-researching ways of effectively distributing their information on the Internet, since it is the way of the future. It has its benefits: it is an easy and instant way to compare and contrast news accounts from all over the United States. That discovery is scaring the establishment press as much as Drudge's critical reports have scared the truth police at the White House.