The Mysterious Matt Drudge
The Mysterious Matt Drudge
Today, we’re not sure if he still runs the website with his name on it. However, there's no denying Matt Drudge was once one of the country's most influential "gatekeepers of the news."
Author’s Note: See today’s Reader Comments for 500 words on WHY I wrote this story or why I think this topic is important. My post was the 20th Reader Comment (made at 9:34 a.m. August 2nd).
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Yesterday I read an interview transcript from a podcaster who’s doing everything he can to find Matt Drudge. This person, Chris Moody, scored an interview with a knowledgeable source, Joseph Curls, who helped run The Drudge Report for four years between 2010-2014 and is now operating his own news aggregator site.
Ironically, the story was linked at Citizen Free Press, another news aggregator that will probably soon have a larger audience than the mysterious and once extremely powerful and influential Drudge.
As a freelance journalist and Substack author, I know how important it can be if aggregator Internet sites link to your articles. Basically, people like Matt Drudge (and the almost-as-mysterious proprietor of CFP, “Citizen Kane”) serve as “gatekeepers of the news.”
For a journalist, writing a story is only half the battle. The other half of the battle is getting as many people as possible to read said story.
Enter Mr. Drudge and Mr. Kane, who can propel a writer’s “story reads” into the stratosphere … or ensure that articles the author might think are wonderful, original and potentially significant are read by only a handful of people.
Drudge became one of the most influential media figures in the world because tens of millions of news junkies once visited his website every day. (When Curls worked for Drudge, the site routinely had 30 million page views per day and 350 million in a month).
Stories that were off-limits to the group-thinking Leftists turned into media gold for Matt Drudge.
Journalism that previously might not have had any influence was now seen by enough people to change or challenge a few dubious narratives. This, no doubt, made Drudge a threat to large swaths of the Establishment.
Sudden Change …
And then, before the 2020 election, Drudge made his most-significant news by suddenly became anti-MAGA and just another liberal echo chamber.
Or, as some of us believe, Drudge simply sold out.
A man who was once routinely highlighted previously taboo topics, was now, apparently, as captured as editors at The New York Times or producers at CNN.
It’s bizarre, but, today, most people don’t even know where Drudge lives or whether he still edits the website that still bears his name … or why his political views turned on a dime.
If he didn’t sell-out and pocket a windfall of money, this metamorphosis qualifies as a curious business strategy as Drudge’s readership numbers have plummeted.
According to Mr. Curls, the Drudge Report once had 30 million visitors a day, a figure that now might be 15 million. Per my research, The Drudge Report no longer ranks in the Top 150 in the country in daily or monthly “traffic.”
At one time, per similarweb.com, The Drudge Report was valued at between $200 and $500 million.
Mr. Drudge is definitely … different
Despite never attending college and never working at a newspaper or magazine, Drudge created an Internet newsletter that became a must-read for virtually every media member and political leader in the country.
Drudge’s most memorable scoop was breaking the story that President Bill Clinton was engaged in a carnal relationship with 22-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky. A Newsweek reporter uncovered the tawdry story, but for some reason, his bosses weren’t interested in publishing a juicy scandal. Drudge, who almost always published other people’s stories, got the story and was fearless enough to post it for the world to gag on.
According to anecdotes shared by Mr. Curls, Matt Drudge might fear possible retribution from Bill, Hillary and/or members of the Clinton political army, which, in the view of the right-wing press, can be ruthless.
Don’t get on the wrong side of Matt Drudge …
Drudge also comes across as petty and vindictive. At some point, Drudge must have realized he possessed tremendous power, which he wasn’t shy about exerting.
Curls shared anecdotes of a Who’s-Who in Journalism who yearned for their stories to be posted on The Drudge Report.
The motivation was not always explained by vanity, but economic reasons.
In digital media, more “clicks” or “views” translate to more advertising revenues and more possible paid subscribers. That is, editorial decisions made by Matt Drudge could make or break a news organization or the career of a journalist who wanted to become well-known beyond the hinterlands.
For example, Tucker Carlson, who co-founded The Daily Caller in 2010, became “distraught” because Drudge wouldn’t link to his site’s stories, according to Curls.
As Curls tells it, Carlson expressed his frustration to Drudge’s new assistant and asked Curls to talk to Matt about changing this.
Curls, who said he only had about 10 extended conversations with Matt Drudge in four years, passed along Tucker’s wish and learned Drudge was upset with Carlson because Carlson once told a TV interviewer the destination of an upcoming Drudge trip.
Revealing this detail was apparently enough for Drudge to ban Carlson’s journalism from his Internet site.
As punishment for another perceived slight, Curls was instructed to never publish any Andrew Breitbart articles.
Drudge soured on Team MAGA
Curls isn’t sure why Drudge, almost over-night, went from an avid Trump supporter to someone who apparently despises Trump. Perhaps, Curls speculated, Trump insulted Drudge in some way.
According to his former assistant, Drudge - who once identified as libertarian - clearly pivoted hard and fast to the left. (While people’s politics can change over time, it’s rare when views expressed for decades change so abruptly.)
For what it’s worth, Curls believes Drudge still works at The Drudge Report. He’s convinced of this because he sees many clever headlines and a layout style (for example, a preference for black-and-white photos) that he associates with Matt Drudge.
He also noted that the number of stories published every day at The Drudge Report has dramatically diminished. The website now features far fewer stories (as few as 30) than when he worked there in 2010-2014. Also, the the same stories often stay posted on the front page much longer than when he worked for Drudge.
From my research, I learned 49 percent of stories curated by Drudge now come from sites viewed as liberal, with only 10 percent coming from sources that would be considered “conservative.”
The Atlantic says almost all conservative media is losing audience share
An article from The Atlantic (published in April of this year), trumpeted the alleged fact that “… traffic to Donald Trump’s most loyal digital-media boosters isn’t just slowing; it’s utterly collapsing.”
The story identifies one possible “culprit” - Facebook.
“Amid criticism from elected officials and academics who said the social-media giant was spreading hate speech and harmful misinformation, including Russian propaganda, before the 2016 election, Facebook apparently came to question the value of featuring news on its platform.
“… All of this monkeying with the internet’s plumbing drastically reduced the referral traffic flowing to news and commentary sites.”
“… More broadly, the loss of readership can’t be helpful to the ideological cause. Top-drawing sites like the conspiratorial Gateway Pundit and Infowars help keep the MAGA faithful faithful by recirculating, amplifying, and sometimes creating the culture-war memes and talking points that dominate right and far-right opinion. Less traffic means less influence.”
The last sentence couldn’t be more accurate and explains why “gatekeepers of the news” continue to wield tremendous influence and, essentially, shape the world with the stories that are selected for publication and, more significantly, stories that are not allowed to influence societal debates. (Deep State tip: Stories that don’t reach many people … don’t influence many people).
I can relate …
I can relate to this as my Substack newsletter got a tremendous boost by Citizen Kane publishing many of my early articles at Citizen Free Press, which became the main benefactor of Drudge’s bizarre about-face.
In the first year of my Substack, a typical story would generate 1,000 to 2,500 “reads. However, this figure would balloon to 20,000 to 75,000 reads when “Citizen Kane” picked up one of my articles
More reads translated into many more free subscribers, some of whom stayed with me and became paid subscribers, which encouraged me to keep writing and publishing stories. Alas, about six months ago, Citizen Kane stopped “picking up my stories.”
I mention this personal anecdote only to illustrate how I can relate to how Tucker Carlson or Andrew Breitbart must have felt back in the golden age of Drudge.
It pays (literally) to be on the positive side of the people and organizations that can make or break a journalism career. (Many of us are now familiar with “lawfare” … “journalismware” might be another weapon in the Deep State’s arsenal).
Anyway, if a conservative journalist and pundit hopes to grow his audience - and possibly influence any national discussions, it’s nice to have friends at highly-trafficked websites.
As mysterious as some of them may be, the “gatekeepers of the news” remain among the country’s most influential citizens.
Why did I write an article on this topic?
My answer: Because I think what happened to the Drudge Report is significant and is telling us something important about the nefarious nature of the world’s “shadow rulers.”
I usually start an essay thinking about at least one (observable) “known knowable.”
In this case, the “known knowable” is that the editorial ideology of the Drudge Report suddenly - and dramatically - changed.
This observation prompts several follow-up questions such as: How did it change? Who actually orchestrated this change? And WHY was this change deemed important or necessary to some group?
My hypothesis is that the Drudge Report, which was very popular with tens of millions of citizens, was perceived as a threat to the continued rule of our Shadow Rulers … and/or if the website continued as it was, the site’s “contrarian” or skeptical articles might thwart some of the Deep State’s planned initiatives.
Obvious solutions to this “problem” would include changing the owner of the site (buying out the site and changing its ideological bent to align with all the other captured corporate media) or, perhaps, blackmailing or extorting the proprietor in some manner to force him to change his ways. (This could probably be accomplished via a combination of money, carrots, or threats, aka sticks or “leverage” … or intimidation/coercion).
Who might have orchestrated such a change? We don’t know, but we can make several educated guesses that would include the “usual suspects.”
I’ve already referenced why and how these people/organizations might have accomplished this goal.
What’s obvious is that Drudge, almost over-night, changed dramatically and is certainly no longer viewed as a “threat” to the Powers that Be. Thus: “Problem solved.”
My bigger area of concern: If shadowy forces DO possess the motivation and ability to dramatically change a perceived threat - at a popular media site like The Drudge Report with tremendous potential influence - this scenario would strike many people as sinister.
This thought exercise makes one wonder what other organizations our Shadow Rulers might have similarly attacked or captured … or what other “narrative-control” projects they are currently pursuing.
Indeed, the rapid growth and influence of the Censorship Industrial Complex largely overlaps with the “capture” of The Drudge Report. That is, both projects helped achieve the same goal - which is throttling potentially influential dissent.
(I actually wonder if Substack has already been targeted for a similar operation - for similar reasons. If so, this would be just another media-control operation of the Deep State).
If the public could find out why Drudge really changed - and who might have been behind this operation, such knowledge would qualify as very important information. This would show citizens what these people and organizations are capable of doing - and what their true goals are.
Of course, the alternative scenario is simply that Drudge - on his own volition - suddenly experienced a massive ideological transformation. That is, he woke up one morning and apparently said, “I’ve been publishing all the wrong stories for decades and I’m now going to run stories that the NY Times and U.S. government would approve of.”
This, I guess, is possible. But, somehow, I doubt it.
To steal a line from the Demorat propaganda machine, "that's weird!" Drudge does a 180? Follow the money.