The Death of the Main Stream Media

The news today is upsetting and disappointing.  President Obama, just months into his second term, is embroiled in scandal after scandal.  Three of these scandals are so serious they might actually bring down his Presidency.  My gut tells me President Obama is primarily guilty of gross incompetence, but these investigations must play out in there own time and their own way.

But we are talking about the most serious Presidential Crisis since Watergate.  This is, in sum, considerably more serious than the President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky Affair and that one ended in an Impeachment Trial.

But my point this afternoon is that several of the traditional news media leaders are pretending like this isn't even happening.  This afternoon neither National Public Radio (NPR) nor NBC/MSNBC even mention any of the scandals on their website homepages. Not even a link! And today is the day IRS official Lois Lerner took the 5th and refused to testify before Congress and Press Secretary Jay Carney faced a revolt from the White House Press Corps.

Ratings indicate viewers are abandoning MSNBC is droves. The network is a virtual ghost town. And all the major network news broadcasts are failing in the ratings, trying to regain their footing.  Yet they continue to try to ignore the current Presidents troubles, I assume believing that if they don't report them, they don't exist.

Meanwhile the new media gets it right.  The Drudge Report dominates on-line news and The Huffington Post works hard at genuine journalism and is willing to let the chips fall where they may.  Other smaller news organizations and even bloggers, some leaning left, some right, all are on the case and gaining viewers and followers in droves. 

Here's Huffington's Home Page minutes ago: 

Huffington also covers the IRS scandal in depth on their front page, as well as the rest of today's news. 

The problem at NBC and NPR this afternoon is that they insult their viewers and readers intelligence. People know there is a crisis and they want the latest facts.  When they can't find them on NBC News or NPR, they go elsewhere.  

Old fashioned journalism works.  America was, quite literally, built on it.  By deciding to ignore journalistic principle and simply become a "Progressive" or Democratic Party advocate, you quickly lose all credibility.

Viewers can handle the truth.  And they want the truth.  They demand a robust press not a babysitter.  

Why is The Drudge Report the Single Most Important News Site?

This morning The Drudge Report is trumpeting a study that has determined that the Drudge website DRIVES MORE TRAFFIC than Twitter and Facebook combined!!

The same study by The Outbrain Publisher Network also confirms that Drudge drives more traffic than CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times or The Huffington Post. In fact only the three major search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing! drive more traffic.

And Drudge is getting more powerful. The report indicates that both his traffic and his referrals are growing. Because of that Drudge, with just two employees aiding the eccentric Matt Drudge, is also increasingly influential. By his simple choice of stories and his paraphrasing of headlines, he becomes an opinion maker!

Because I work in the Internet Industry I am surrounded by "experts," including some of my own employees, who dismiss, criticize and even ridicule the outdated, simplistic, format of the website. To listen to these "experts" it's even a mortal sin to actually use Time New Roman as a font.

"Where's the flash? Where's the javascript? Where's the big pictures, maps, head shots, video, or audio? Where is the comment's section to "engage the loyal readers?" Where is the sacred "Like" button for Facebook? Or even a little "ReTweet" link? The site is circa 1990. It's an embarrassment to the profession of Web Design!!"

So why IS Drudge the premier News site? Actually it's because of all the reasons listed in the two paragraphs of criticism listed above. By eliminating all the add-ons and busy distractions, Drudge presents, in a quick glance, every single important news story of the day.

To be certain, Drudge has a keen instinct for the news that matters. And his super-quick updates often mean he has the important news first (at least before the other aggregation sires).

Most importantly you never need to dig to find a story. It's all on one page. By concentrating on political news, world news and business news, he covers the core of the news. Everyone is content to move on over to Entertainment Weekly or The Sporting News to get the non-essential stories of the day.

Finally, Drudge has enough tabloid flair to amuse the reader and keep the site compelling. If I'm honest the MSNBC, FOX and CNN websites are just as boring as hell. The news isn't there, it's on page whatever. And the home page puts you to sleep, even on a big news day.

So, even as a liberal, I turn to Drudge first, at least 6 or 7 times every day. It literally takes one minute to get up to date on important events.

The Drudge Report ain't broke. Thank god he hasn't tried to fix it.

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Here's another short analysis from several months ago that draws the same conclusions: The Incredible Drudge Report You'll note I borrowed their artwork for my blog entry today.