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Newsweek's Isikoff on Matt Drudge: 'Much Less of a Factor than He Was Five Years Ago'
Business & Media Institute ^ | April 24, 2008 | Jeff Poor

Posted on 04/24/2008 1:51:35 PM PDT by Julia A. Seymour

It’s been 10 years since the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. But the way it broke changed the way the news cycle functioned and has had a profound impact on the business of media.

In 1998, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff leaked the Lewinsky story to Matt Drudge’s Drudge Report. The story took off from there, and the rest is history. But a decade later, Isikoff said he doesn’t think Drudge is the player he once was.

“I’d say he is much less of a factor than he was five years ago,” Isikoff said. “I think he has lost a little bit of his edge. I think the point you’re making – the stories getting prematurely out there have much less to do with him today than with just the evolution of the media where everybody’s got a Web site. Everybody is looking at media where it is constant 24/7 news cycle.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessandmedia.org ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: mattdrudge; michaelisikoff; monicalewinsky; newsweek
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Isikoff thinks Drudge has lost his edge.
1 posted on 04/24/2008 1:51:35 PM PDT by Julia A. Seymour
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To: Julia A. Seymour

And that would make Newsweek?


2 posted on 04/24/2008 1:53:38 PM PDT by Dr. Ursus (( commander of the simian host))
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To: Julia A. Seymour

Drudge does seem more negative and anti-everything.


3 posted on 04/24/2008 1:53:48 PM PDT by edcoil
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To: Julia A. Seymour

I’ve probably been to Drudge’s butt-ugly site 5 times in my life.


4 posted on 04/24/2008 1:54:09 PM PDT by L98Fiero (A fool who'll waste his life, God rest his guts.)
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To: Julia A. Seymour

this Isik—whatever has had an edge sometime?


5 posted on 04/24/2008 1:55:10 PM PDT by kcm.org (Now unto Him)
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To: Julia A. Seymour
Newsweek's Isikoff on Matt Drudge: 'Much Less of a Factor than He Was Five Years Ago'

Funny. The same can be said of Micheal Isikoff (not to mention Newspeak Magazine itself).

6 posted on 04/24/2008 1:55:50 PM PDT by Maceman
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To: Julia A. Seymour

I think that’s true. I haven’t been there in ages.


7 posted on 04/24/2008 1:56:04 PM PDT by DManA
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To: Julia A. Seymour

The Drudge Report is the first site I go to every morning after my home page.


8 posted on 04/24/2008 1:58:17 PM PDT by Uncle Hal
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To: Julia A. Seymour

Have any of Isikoff’s recent stories gotten any more people killed?


9 posted on 04/24/2008 1:59:13 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: edcoil

I hate to say this, but Drudge comes across as being in the tank for B. Hussein Obama


10 posted on 04/24/2008 2:01:03 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine ("There is no civility, only politics.")
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To: Julia A. Seymour

Drudge has spent the last two years using his smelling salts to prevent swooning for Hussein, that’s why.


11 posted on 04/24/2008 2:01:33 PM PDT by roses of sharon ( (Who will be McCain's maverick?))
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To: Julia A. Seymour

Let Drudge’s influence factor be “N”.

Then, the sum of ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NPR, CNN, et al is equal to somewhere around N/20.

Hope the libs out there understand that since it actually took an assumption followed by some very simple math. Isikoff’ll get it - after around 5 minutes of intense study.


12 posted on 04/24/2008 2:06:36 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Julia A. Seymour

Drudge needs a scoop badly - he’s ten years past the first one.

He was excellent on radio - his satirical take on the vacuous celebrity and political culture was gold every week. The stories he chooses reflect this cynicism but it’s certainly easy to view him as a hype merchant and a Chicken Little especially on oil prices.

Sadly he has also embraced some dubious advertising and scripting techniques with popups, animations, etc. A good firewall is a must.


13 posted on 04/24/2008 2:07:23 PM PDT by relictele
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To: Julia A. Seymour

Drudge can go days at a time without adding new content these days. There’s no reason to go there, he’s not “breaking” anything.


14 posted on 04/24/2008 2:10:33 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Julia A. Seymour

Issikoff and his soon to permanently shut down Newsweek rag are huge factors in Drudge’s amazing success:

People want uncensored honest reporting, not Issikoff type fake news.

Drudge: 20 million + hits a day; 5 BILLION+ hits a year!!!!

Eat that, Issikoff, you envious loser!


15 posted on 04/24/2008 2:17:00 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember (When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.)
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To: RegulatorCountry

Resist selling him short, if you listen to any radio talk
show in the nation, the stories they cover are the ones on
the Drudge front page. Someone thinks he’s relevant.


16 posted on 04/24/2008 2:17:12 PM PDT by Fireone (We need the 2nd Amendment to ensure the others. It's not racial profiling, it's criminal profiling.)
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To: Uncle Hal
The Drudge Report is the first site I go to every morning after my home page.

For the office bound like me, I sometimes go to it dozens of times a day. You can get the important stuff at one time and skip the garbage other places have. Free Republic is right after Drudge.

I would never even consider places like Time, Newsweek, etc. And I certainly wouldn't spend hard earned money on them.

17 posted on 04/24/2008 2:24:47 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: kcvl

exactly...watching Rush on the webcam...he’s hitting Drudge constantly during the commercial breaks.

The web hits tell you all you need to know...

BTW, he’s been my home page since 1995...


18 posted on 04/24/2008 2:29:35 PM PDT by Keith (ANY REPUBLICAN in 2008 -- it's about defeating lefty surrender-monkeys like Obama)
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To: Julia A. Seymour
Michael who?
19 posted on 04/24/2008 2:40:42 PM PDT by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton (To those who believe the world was safer with Saddam, get treatment for that!)
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To: Julia A. Seymour

I actually agree with Isikoff on something? Unbelievable!
Drudge last went out on a limb in the runup to election 2004 with the Alexandra Polier (John Kerry affair)scam.
Ever since that stunt failed miserably he seems to have been reduced to cut and paste links with a picture here or there.
It’s not much of a site and Matt has become even less of a factor since he stopped doing his weakly(yes, on purpose) radio show.


20 posted on 04/24/2008 2:42:33 PM PDT by JerseyDvl (If You Support America - Thank a Soldier; If You Support Al-Qaeda - Thank a Democrat!)
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