As the Drudge Report hyperventilates with 18 headline links about swine flu, President Obama tells Americans the outbreak is "not a cause for alarm" and cites the current scare as an example of why investing in research is vital.
“Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment and our quality of life than it has ever been before,” the President said today in a speech at the National Academy of Sciences. “If there was ever a day that reminded us of our shared stake in science and research, it is today.”
The contrast is more than a textbook example of sensationalism vs. responsibility but a reflection of something more basic in the current American mindset.
Drudge, who is always excited about earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, thrives on stirring up primal emotions without regard to consequences, chalking up millions of web hits daily with irresistible appeals to fear, anger and other primal emotions.
In a 24/7 world of information overload, that's a formula for grabbing eyeballs which used to be the province of tabloid newspapers, now dying off like dinosaurs who just couldn't move fast enough as their environment evolved.
But the swine flu scare is also as good a time as any to emphasize the difference between news and infotainment.
We can get a daily rush from Drudge, but it's important to have Obama in the White House reminding us that "our capacity to deal with a public health challenge of this sort rests heavily on the work of our scientific and medical community" and setting a goal to "exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science."
If Drudge links to that, it will probably be headed SWINE FLU SPACE RACE.
Showing posts with label Drudge Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drudge Report. Show all posts
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Drudge Suicide Watch
Hard times may be taking a higher psychological toll on politicians and news aggregators than the public. As the Drudge Report hyperventilates about "NANNY STATE: GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO WARN OF SADNESS/CRYING OVER ECONOMY," a new Washington Post poll finds "a rapid increase in the percentage of Americans who say the economy is improving."
Drudge's excitement is over a new web page by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, "Getting Through Tough Economic Times," that offers advice on recognizing and dealing with the depression and anxiety that can result from financial setbacks, a useful compendium that somehow rates the type size Drudge usually reserves for earthquakes, tsunamis and Democratic scandals.
In the real world, the new Post poll shows that a majority feels that their President is on top of the situation: "Two-thirds of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the country's top job, and six in 10 give him good marks on issue No. 1, the flagging economy. Those figures are little changed from last month."
The SAMSA guide to getting through, however, may be of particular value to conservatives having a hard time over being out of power in Washington:
"Unemployment and other kinds of financial distress do not 'cause' suicide directly, but they can be factors that interact dynamically within individuals and affect their risk for suicide. These financial factors can cause strong feelings such as humiliation and despair, which can precipitate suicidal thoughts or actions among those who may already be vulnerable to having these feelings because of life-experiences or underlying mental or emotional conditions..."
Members of the Republican National Committee, take note.
Drudge's excitement is over a new web page by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, "Getting Through Tough Economic Times," that offers advice on recognizing and dealing with the depression and anxiety that can result from financial setbacks, a useful compendium that somehow rates the type size Drudge usually reserves for earthquakes, tsunamis and Democratic scandals.
In the real world, the new Post poll shows that a majority feels that their President is on top of the situation: "Two-thirds of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the country's top job, and six in 10 give him good marks on issue No. 1, the flagging economy. Those figures are little changed from last month."
The SAMSA guide to getting through, however, may be of particular value to conservatives having a hard time over being out of power in Washington:
"Unemployment and other kinds of financial distress do not 'cause' suicide directly, but they can be factors that interact dynamically within individuals and affect their risk for suicide. These financial factors can cause strong feelings such as humiliation and despair, which can precipitate suicidal thoughts or actions among those who may already be vulnerable to having these feelings because of life-experiences or underlying mental or emotional conditions..."
Members of the Republican National Committee, take note.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
McCain, Letterman, Couric and Drudge
The weirdness of the week is best illustrated by a news flash from a place where irony is only unintentional, the Drudge Report:
"David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy.
"Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, 'Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?'
"Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, 'You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves.' And he joked: 'I think someone's putting something in his metamucil.'
"'He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?'
"'What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!'
The McCain campaign will undoubtedly spin this as another media attack on their man. By Drudge?
"David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy.
"Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, 'Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?'
"Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, 'You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves.' And he joked: 'I think someone's putting something in his metamucil.'
"'He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?'
"'What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!'
The McCain campaign will undoubtedly spin this as another media attack on their man. By Drudge?
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Oprah, Palin, Drudge and Agnew
In her convention speech, Sarah Palin bashed the media with "a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion." Her defiance harked back to another GOP VP, Spiro Agnew, who assailed the "nattering nabobs of negativism" before being forced to resign for taking bundles of cash when he was a governor.
Palin is, among other things, the Agnew of a McCain campaign as eager to blame the media for its problems as the Nixon Administration was back then, and now good old reliable Matt Drudge has started the ball rolling with an assault on Oprah for not inviting Palin to appear on her show.
"Oprah's staff is sharply divided on the merits of booking Sarah Palin," the Drudge Report quotes its usual anonymous sources as confiding. "One executive close to Winfrey is warning any Palin ban could ignite a dramatic backlash!"
Never mind that Oprah denies any such discussions, confirms that she will not interview any of the candidates and expresses interest in having Palin on after the elections. That hasn't deterred her competition such as ABC from picking up and running with the story by asking, "Is Oprah Biased?"
In stirring this first little media tempest in a teapot, McCain backers get a twofer--discrediting Oprah for backing Obama and painting Palin as a victim of gender bias. If they had picked Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge, would anybody be badgering Oprah?
The next stage, which has already started, will be a sustained attack on journalists for investigating Palin's background and beliefs and questioning her claims such as selling the state jet on eBay or rejecting federal funds for the Bridge to Nowhere.
Somewhere in political rogue purgatory, Spiro Agnew must be smiling.
Palin is, among other things, the Agnew of a McCain campaign as eager to blame the media for its problems as the Nixon Administration was back then, and now good old reliable Matt Drudge has started the ball rolling with an assault on Oprah for not inviting Palin to appear on her show.
"Oprah's staff is sharply divided on the merits of booking Sarah Palin," the Drudge Report quotes its usual anonymous sources as confiding. "One executive close to Winfrey is warning any Palin ban could ignite a dramatic backlash!"
Never mind that Oprah denies any such discussions, confirms that she will not interview any of the candidates and expresses interest in having Palin on after the elections. That hasn't deterred her competition such as ABC from picking up and running with the story by asking, "Is Oprah Biased?"
In stirring this first little media tempest in a teapot, McCain backers get a twofer--discrediting Oprah for backing Obama and painting Palin as a victim of gender bias. If they had picked Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge, would anybody be badgering Oprah?
The next stage, which has already started, will be a sustained attack on journalists for investigating Palin's background and beliefs and questioning her claims such as selling the state jet on eBay or rejecting federal funds for the Bridge to Nowhere.
Somewhere in political rogue purgatory, Spiro Agnew must be smiling.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
The Drudges' Generation Gap
They are digital gatekeepers, but the father runs an online library and the son is the proprietor of a news whorehouse.
Outing Prince Harry in Afghanistan and showing Barack Obama in Muslim garb are the latest triumphs of "the world's most powerful journalist," as the UK Telegraph now dubs Matt Drudge, stretching the definition of all three words.
In an era when clicks are currency, Robert Drudge's refdesk.com, "Fact Checker for the Internet," is clearly outvalued by his son's millions of links to facts, factoids and junk news from everywhere.
The story is familiar by now--Young Drudge's Dickensian youth of abject intellectual and psychological poverty and his Horatio Alger ascent after a despairing father gave him a cheap computer--the 7-Eleven years, the psychiatric treatment with Jewish Social Services, the climb back to become manager of a CBS gift shop, the rummaging for scoops in the Hollywood City trash cans before cleaners fed them to the shredders...
A 21st century success story best summarized by the Great Summarizer himself: "24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a 12-month year, 10 years a decade, 10 decades a century, and 10 centuries a millennium, as far as a chip can see, wire services from all over the world move raw data ... all over the world!
"I can access, edit, headline and ... link to it all!
"Throw it up on a website and wait for you to come.
"For seven pre-millennial years, I've covered the world from my Hollywood apartment, dressed in my drawers.
"I've reported when, how, and what I've wanted...
"There's been no editor, no lawyer, no judge, no president to tell me I can't...
"Technology has finally caught up with individual liberty."
As Mel Brooks' Max Bialystock would say, "When you've got it, baby, flaunt it!" But Drudge might want to take a look back at his 20th century counterpart, Walter Winchell, who owned the world of gossip with his punchy phrasing and unfettered "reporting" back then.
Another of today's icons, Larry King, who succeeded the gossip master at his newspaper job, recalls: "He was so sad. You know what Winchell was doing at the end? Typing out mimeographed sheets with his column, handing them out on the corner. That's how sad he got. When he died, only one person came to his funeral."
Sic transit... Wait, I have to check the exact quote on Robert Drudge's web site.
Outing Prince Harry in Afghanistan and showing Barack Obama in Muslim garb are the latest triumphs of "the world's most powerful journalist," as the UK Telegraph now dubs Matt Drudge, stretching the definition of all three words.
In an era when clicks are currency, Robert Drudge's refdesk.com, "Fact Checker for the Internet," is clearly outvalued by his son's millions of links to facts, factoids and junk news from everywhere.
The story is familiar by now--Young Drudge's Dickensian youth of abject intellectual and psychological poverty and his Horatio Alger ascent after a despairing father gave him a cheap computer--the 7-Eleven years, the psychiatric treatment with Jewish Social Services, the climb back to become manager of a CBS gift shop, the rummaging for scoops in the Hollywood City trash cans before cleaners fed them to the shredders...
A 21st century success story best summarized by the Great Summarizer himself: "24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a 12-month year, 10 years a decade, 10 decades a century, and 10 centuries a millennium, as far as a chip can see, wire services from all over the world move raw data ... all over the world!
"I can access, edit, headline and ... link to it all!
"Throw it up on a website and wait for you to come.
"For seven pre-millennial years, I've covered the world from my Hollywood apartment, dressed in my drawers.
"I've reported when, how, and what I've wanted...
"There's been no editor, no lawyer, no judge, no president to tell me I can't...
"Technology has finally caught up with individual liberty."
As Mel Brooks' Max Bialystock would say, "When you've got it, baby, flaunt it!" But Drudge might want to take a look back at his 20th century counterpart, Walter Winchell, who owned the world of gossip with his punchy phrasing and unfettered "reporting" back then.
Another of today's icons, Larry King, who succeeded the gossip master at his newspaper job, recalls: "He was so sad. You know what Winchell was doing at the end? Typing out mimeographed sheets with his column, handing them out on the corner. That's how sad he got. When he died, only one person came to his funeral."
Sic transit... Wait, I have to check the exact quote on Robert Drudge's web site.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Prince Harry's Excellent Adventure
His grandmother sent him there, and the Drudge Report is bringing him back. For ten weeks, the young man who is third in line for the throne has been soldiering in Afghanistan as the British press honored what used to be called a gentlemen's agreement not to tell the world about it.
But the web site that outed Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky adventure has done the same for Prince Harry by citing an article in an obscure Australian magazine, “Prince Harry Fights on Front Lines in Afghanistan.”
So much for the Prince's war. The headline in today's Guardian reports: "Army prepares to evacuate Harry after news blackout fails."
Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, the British chief of staff, said he was “very disappointed” that “foreign Web sites” had posted the story without asking for permission “in stark contrast to the highly responsible attitude that the whole of the U.K. print and broadcast media, along with a small number of overseas, who have entered into an understanding with us over the coverage of Prince Harry on operations.”
In ten weeks of combat duty, the royal lieutenant has apparently been serving as a spotter to direct air strikes against the Taliban and, now that the secrecy lid is off, the excitable British press is picturing him behind machine guns and babbling such news as "The 23-year-old Household Cavalry lieutenant killed up to 30 of the enemy on his frontline tour by directing at least THREE air strikes."
In a pre-departure interview, Prince Harry told the UK Times that the Queen, his grandmother, "told me I’m off to Afghanistan...and she was very pro me going."
Now Drudge is bringing him back.
But the web site that outed Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky adventure has done the same for Prince Harry by citing an article in an obscure Australian magazine, “Prince Harry Fights on Front Lines in Afghanistan.”
So much for the Prince's war. The headline in today's Guardian reports: "Army prepares to evacuate Harry after news blackout fails."
Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, the British chief of staff, said he was “very disappointed” that “foreign Web sites” had posted the story without asking for permission “in stark contrast to the highly responsible attitude that the whole of the U.K. print and broadcast media, along with a small number of overseas, who have entered into an understanding with us over the coverage of Prince Harry on operations.”
In ten weeks of combat duty, the royal lieutenant has apparently been serving as a spotter to direct air strikes against the Taliban and, now that the secrecy lid is off, the excitable British press is picturing him behind machine guns and babbling such news as "The 23-year-old Household Cavalry lieutenant killed up to 30 of the enemy on his frontline tour by directing at least THREE air strikes."
In a pre-departure interview, Prince Harry told the UK Times that the Queen, his grandmother, "told me I’m off to Afghanistan...and she was very pro me going."
Now Drudge is bringing him back.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Nine-Year-Old Scoop
The Drudge Report works in wondrous ways.
The banner this morning, under a picture of Mike Huckabee wagging his finger, is 'Take This Nation Back for Christ' leading to a news report of his speech at a Southern Baptist Convention. The small type notes it was made in 1998.
Click through, and you get the story from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, making the then-governor sound as if he wants, not to be President, but Pastor-in-Chief of the nation.
"The reason we have so much government is because we have so much broken humanity," it quotes him as saying. "And the reason we have so much broken humanity is because sin reigns in the hearts and lives of human beings instead of the Savior...
"Government knows it does not have the answer, but it's arrogant and acts as though it does. Church does have the answer but will cowardly deny that it does and wonder when the world will be changed...
"I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives."
The provenance of this Drudge scoop is suggested by the fact that the speech was made in Salt Lake City, where reporters were given copies of a book Huckabee had written as well as one titled "Mormonism Unmasked," exposing the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Cui bono to make Huckabee look like a religious nut? Or, in today's world, would his supporters consider the story a plus?
The banner this morning, under a picture of Mike Huckabee wagging his finger, is 'Take This Nation Back for Christ' leading to a news report of his speech at a Southern Baptist Convention. The small type notes it was made in 1998.
Click through, and you get the story from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, making the then-governor sound as if he wants, not to be President, but Pastor-in-Chief of the nation.
"The reason we have so much government is because we have so much broken humanity," it quotes him as saying. "And the reason we have so much broken humanity is because sin reigns in the hearts and lives of human beings instead of the Savior...
"Government knows it does not have the answer, but it's arrogant and acts as though it does. Church does have the answer but will cowardly deny that it does and wonder when the world will be changed...
"I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives."
The provenance of this Drudge scoop is suggested by the fact that the speech was made in Salt Lake City, where reporters were given copies of a book Huckabee had written as well as one titled "Mormonism Unmasked," exposing the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Cui bono to make Huckabee look like a religious nut? Or, in today's world, would his supporters consider the story a plus?
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Rumors About Trent Lott's Retirement
This could be a case study of the difference in news values between the Mainstream Media and blogs.
After Trent Lott's surprising announcement yesterday that he would retire from the Senate at the end of the year, there was puzzlement about his motives and timing. Why would the second most powerful Republican resign after two decades with five years left in his current term to "pursue something else"?
Then, lo and behold, a questionable D.C.-based blog last night offers a gay-sex scandal to explain it all. This morning, the young man involved denies it all and the whole story pulses through the blogosphere in a tizzy of titillation and disappointment.
Unless the arbiter of Washington sleaze, Larry Flynt, comes forward with evidence, file it under "Sex Scandals That Never Happened" with yesterday's Drudge Report of a British rumor about Hillary Clinton's affair with a female aide.
This post will self-destruct in 30 seconds.
After Trent Lott's surprising announcement yesterday that he would retire from the Senate at the end of the year, there was puzzlement about his motives and timing. Why would the second most powerful Republican resign after two decades with five years left in his current term to "pursue something else"?
Then, lo and behold, a questionable D.C.-based blog last night offers a gay-sex scandal to explain it all. This morning, the young man involved denies it all and the whole story pulses through the blogosphere in a tizzy of titillation and disappointment.
Unless the arbiter of Washington sleaze, Larry Flynt, comes forward with evidence, file it under "Sex Scandals That Never Happened" with yesterday's Drudge Report of a British rumor about Hillary Clinton's affair with a female aide.
This post will self-destruct in 30 seconds.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Hillary's Drudges
What do you call a web site that attacks John Edwards, Mike Bloomberg, Ralph Nader, Chris Matthews and, most of all, Barack Obama? The Drudge Report? Wrong. Try “Hillary Is 44.”
Against a deceptively demure pink background, anonymous admirers of Sen. Clinton sling dirt and invective at anyone who stands in her way, most of all Obama, with allegations and insinuations while projecting her political sainthood.
“In tone the site is very Tokyo Rose,” opines Peggy Noonan, admittedly no Hillary fan but not averse to the idea of a woman as President.
The “44” stands for 44th President. In one of their milder posts, admirers unveil Clinton’s one-word slogan: “Ready.” If the site is any indication, it will be followed by “Aim, Fire.”
Against a deceptively demure pink background, anonymous admirers of Sen. Clinton sling dirt and invective at anyone who stands in her way, most of all Obama, with allegations and insinuations while projecting her political sainthood.
“In tone the site is very Tokyo Rose,” opines Peggy Noonan, admittedly no Hillary fan but not averse to the idea of a woman as President.
The “44” stands for 44th President. In one of their milder posts, admirers unveil Clinton’s one-word slogan: “Ready.” If the site is any indication, it will be followed by “Aim, Fire.”
Friday, June 15, 2007
Can't Wait
Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to Politico, is going into the 24/7 news business in a big way with their own All-Hillary-All-the-Time versions of tabloid newspapers and news sites like, um, the Drudge Report.
"In an ideal world, every single one of our supporters would wake up in the morning and go to HillaryHub to find out what the latest news on Hillary is," says its creator, Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson.
But there will be MSM look-alikes, too. "I grew up in New York reading tabloids; my dream job is to edit the New York Post," Wolfson said. "So we set up something that has a little of that flavor and feel to it.”
No word yet about whether there will be Hillary doughnuts and Hillary coffee to go with the news feeds.
"In an ideal world, every single one of our supporters would wake up in the morning and go to HillaryHub to find out what the latest news on Hillary is," says its creator, Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson.
But there will be MSM look-alikes, too. "I grew up in New York reading tabloids; my dream job is to edit the New York Post," Wolfson said. "So we set up something that has a little of that flavor and feel to it.”
No word yet about whether there will be Hillary doughnuts and Hillary coffee to go with the news feeds.
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