[wita]

In this case I might be inclined to include FreeRepublic in the mix as they were attacked by the LA Times the former big guy going after the little guy when they took Jim to court for using their “intellectual property”, but in reality saw the handwriting on the wall, that the internet was going to be their death knell so they could not allow “we the People” any discussion rights. That is, if I have the story right.

[GOPJ]

Yes, we are in the mix... but at the time when newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post were whining about ‘the Internet’ causing their readers to leave - - and their numbers to tank - - their problems were caused by their own choices.(As they've leaned now that they're failing on the internet too..)

Of course it wasn't really ‘Drudge’ so much as it was MSM newsrooms had filled up with liberal elites with little or no connection to the communities they served.

Sixty years ago newsrooms were overstaffed with white men with working class roots. Women were employed for the ‘Food Section’ or the Style Section almost never for ‘hard news’. Blacks and other minorities were nonexistent. In a somewhat patriarchal Caucasian society it worked... not ‘fair’ but ‘worked’.

Today newspapers and the media reflect the values of out of touch white liberal elites and the minority groups that prop up their power. They represent demographics so out of touch with most Americans that it can't support an industry designed to meet information needs for most citizens.

The press wasn't damaged by Drudge or by FreeRepublic in the beginning but by choices they made that forced the creation of Drudge, FreeRepublic, and true alternative news industries.