I need help on Drudge from my fellow DUers

[progdonkey]

There's a guy in my class who is an avid right-winger. He's actually quite a nice guy, but every now and then we'll have an argument. So far, I've got him beat about 3-0, with this last one unresolved (see below).

Today we got on the subject of Matt Drudge, and I learned that my friend is a regular reader of his. I mentioned how Drudge is just a mouthpiece for the RNC, plus the whole "open but in the closet" thing. He challenged me to find just one story on the Drudge Report that was false and for which Drudge failed to issue a retraction.

I'm sure a few examples would be relatively easy to find, but I don't follow Drudge that much, so I figured I'd turn it over to my friends here at DU. Could someone give me some posts of stories he failed to retract?

Thanks.

[k in IA]

1. How about the whole Kerry affair fiasco from a couple of months

ago that ended up being nothing but a smear campaign.

[calico1]

4. He also posted that he had an inside

source saying Hillary Clinton would be the VP candidate.

[physioex]

2. I can't help with finding the facts...

But Drudge is like another human being with his imperfections. I don't understand how someone out there can think that any source or person has never made a mistake....

[progdonkey]

5. retractions

The issue isn't that Drudge has never made a mistake, it's that he's never had to issue a retraction (or so says my friend.) He said if I show him where something is false and Drudge failed to retract it, he'll concede. Of course, I'm sure he'll just refuse to take any proof I give him as proof, but it's worth a shot.

[Kahuna]

12. He's still claiming that Wes Clark started the Kerry intern story...

He needs to retract that one.

[VolcanoJen]

13. That's a ridiculous standard, and you should call him on it.

Does Drudge even issue retractions? He doesn't report the news, he reports his personal receipt of fax-blasts from right-wing sources. Drudge is not a journalist, so why should he issue retractions?

Retraction isn't his responsibility, in his mind. Tell your classmate that you can, in fact, prove many times in which Drudge has been wrong, but cannot cite a Drudge retraction. Reject the standard of debate your classmate has offered, and instead propose a new standard.

Resolved: That Drudge failed to issue a retraction, despite mounting evidence that shows the falseness of his claims, speaks to his journalistic credibility, and proves that he is not a journalist. Discuss.

[Hawkeye-X]

3. The recent one - Drudge reporting Kerry picking Gephardt.

That was a slap in the face for both Rupert Murdoch and Matt Drudge.

Hawkeye-X

[CaTeacher]

7. I have to point out that his being gay or not, has

nothing to do with him as a journalist. I hate it when that is used as a slur---why should it be a slur? Being gay is just a fact of life for many people, and it should be completely irrelevant to his performance at his job. I HATE it when the term "gay" is used to imply that a person is less of a person.

I am not a Drudge reader, but from what I have heard the benefit of Drudge is also the downfall--reputed journalists will usually check and recheck their references before they go with a story. Drudge does not do much fact checking--his emphasis is on getting the story first. So he often has scoops-because he will print stories while others are stil fact checking. Sometimes the stories are true, sometimes they are false. I have visited a few times and skimmed headlines, but I am not a regular visitor to his site.

[Cannikin]

15. I'm gay, and he makes me sick because he stays in the closet so

he doesnt get booted out of the Republican loop.

[Syrinx]

6. what about the Sidney Blumenthal wife-beating story?

http://www.bulldognews.net/cyberbia.html

[bucknaked]

8. Clinton's black lovechild...

Didn't Drudge break that one?

[Kahuna]

11. Yep. That was Drudge.

nt

[bucknaked]

14. BTW, anybody else get a hint of "Drudge is losing it" over his Kerry/botox

...montage?

Clearly, I'm giving him too much credit, but even for Drudge, I thought that was pretty desperate.

[VolcanoJen]

9. He blew it on the Kerry Intern story, for sure. Show this article...

... to your classmate. It's moving, and makes so many lucid points against tabloid journalism that it ought to be enough to give any reasonable person pause.

The Education of Alexandra Polier - Falsely accused of having an affair with John Kerry, the “intern” sifts through the mud and the people who threw it.

[Kahuna]

10. The Kerry "intern" story. And the story that was also on the RNC..

website about How Wesley Clark actually testified in favor of the IWR. Both of those stories were false and rightwing talking points.

[MattNC]

16. most of his stories aren't false

so much as they are of no news value: Kerry and botox, Kerry and Edwards hugging a lot, Kerry and vacation, etc. Yet when he does report actual news it is indeed incredibly biased. I used to read his site a lot, but now it's seriously nothing more than an Internet tabloid.