Drudge Trolling
Brian Beutler: "It's widely understood that writers and editors value an article's penetration as much as they do its quality. It's the very dynamic that keeps us stuck with Maureen Dowd. I know that writers at our political dailies here in DC are often more excited about the possibility of a Drudge link than they are for the approval of their smart, principled peers, because that link represents their value added to the business side of their publication. It's an incentive that can do wonders for quality if your patron is Duncan Black or another smart and popular media critic."
Here's an explanation for "Drudge Trolling" (mainstream journalists who actively seek links from The Drudge Report) that never occurred to me. It's always seemed to me that the explanation that the mainstream media is just right-wing by nature was to simplistic an explanation. But if the a success by a journalist is measured by the number of "hits" they get and you can get a great hit aggregator like Drudge to link to you, then it makes sense that mainstream journalist will inevitably lean their stories towards something that Drudge will find favorable.
So, when said journalists claim that Drudge "rules their world" it doesn't mean they agree with Drudge politically. It just means that they value a link from him more than any other.
Of course, the more you subconsciously troll for Drudge links the more you will rationalize this by adopting a Drudge-like view of the world.
posted by Chris Andersen at 3:59 PM
2 Comments:
Just what is it that folks find interesting about Drudge? As a matter of fact, who is Drudge and what does he/she/it profess?
I suppose I troll bloggers as a search for subject matter rather than to see just who links to whom. And I suppose I seek those who agree with me rather than to find those with whom I agree. For example, if I want to find out how many people have been killed in Iraq I will go to Antiwar and Iraq Casualty Count or Information Clearing House, not to something called Drudge.
Perhaps it is all the same thing. But then I am not the "smart, principled" browser that might find Drudge of some interest. I don't have that sort of time. In depth analysis and reporting from the primary source is far more valuable than links from whatever Drudge is, or from would-be psychophants.
Often times bloggers, well-meaning as they probably are, simply don't have the resources for deep analysis and so wind up punditing instead. That is not a criticism, simply a fact of life. But credentials comprised of appearances on someone else's blog do not a journalist make.
Well might you ask why I am even here. A friend suggested I check this site upon occasion. I did and I find I agree with you on many things so I shall return. I shall because I do not find you overly strident in most cases. I haven't seen as much name-calling here as I do on Eschaton and some of the other left-blogs. (They get as vitirolic as the right-blogs and just as distasteful and indecent.)
I suspect Drudge's popularity has something to do with why peacocks have such enormous tail feathers.
I could elaborate here but I think this may be worthy of a post.
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