Posted by Jim Lindgren:
A New Blog to Compete With Drudge.--
The New York Times has a [1]strange story on Ariana Huffington's new
celebrity blog designed to compete with the Drudge Report. Yes, that's
what the story says:
Among those signed up to contribute are Walter Cronkite, David
Mamet, Nora Ephron, Warren Beatty, James Fallows, Vernon E. Jordan
Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Diane Keaton,
Norman Mailer and Mortimer B. Zuckerman.
"This gives me a chance to sound off with a few words or a long
editorial," said Mr. Cronkite, 88, the longtime "CBS Evening News"
anchorman. "It's a medium that is new and interesting, and I
thought I'd have some fun."
In some ways, Ms. Huffington's venture is a direct challenge to the
popular Drudge Report. Started nearly a decade ago by Matt Drudge,
the Drudge Report lifts potentially hot news from obscurity and
blares it across a virtual "front page," usually before anyone
else. While his squibs are sometimes cast with a conservative
slant, his "developing" scoops often send the mainstream media
scrambling to catch up.
But--you might object--Drudge doesn't really run a blog. Well, you
just have to read the story to see how a celebrity group blog with 250
posters might compete with Drudge. Although most of the story is about
the celebrity posters, the crucial fact in the story might be this:
Ms. Huffington's effort - to be called the Huffington Post
(www.huffingtonpost.com) - will also seek to ferret out potentially
juicy items and give them legs. In fact, she has hired away Mr.
Drudge's right-hand Web whiz, Andrew Breitbart, who used to be her
researcher.
Aha! So someone who is not well known (or, more precisely, is about as
well known as a lot of prominent non-celebrity bloggers), Andrew
Breitbart, may be writing a news service to compete with Drudge. That
is at least a plausible hook--someone with expertise but without the
famous name might provide important content.
The format is not disclosed. Will all 250 celebrities be posting one
after another on the same page? I could imagine that working, somewhat
like NRO online. If so, a small fraction of the 250 celebrities are
likely to dominate the dialogue. Or will there instead effectively be
a blogroll on the side with 250 celebrity names to click on? The
article ambiguously says that "Notables will oversee certain sections,
with Gary Hart . . . taking the lead on national security issues." It
was thus unclear whether there would be a filter for bloggers wanting
to post, which would discourage posting considerably.
One interesting passage:
Ms. Ephron, the writer, who is one of the bloggers, said it was
this casual aspect of the venture that appealed to her. "The idea
that one might occasionally be able to have a small thought and a
place to send it, without having to write a whole essay, seems like
a very good idea," she said.
She also sees the Post as a chance for the left to balance out the
right.
"In the Fox era, everything we can do on our side to even things
out, now that the media is either controlled by Rupert Murdoch or
is so afraid of Rupert Murdoch that they behave as if they were
controlled by him, is great," she said. But sometimes, she added,
"I may merely have a cake recipe."
Ms. Walsh of Salon.com said that managing the politics of the site
could be tricky. The initial enthusiasm is likely to be among the
left, who feel like they are getting kicked by Drudge and the
right, she said. But the blogosphere is independent and skeptical
and rejects political cant, she said, adding, "You don't want to be
doing predictable journalism and pandering to people."
The blog will not be up until May 9.
More at [2]Tim Blair.
References
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/25/technology/25arianna.html
2. http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/next_level_reached/
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