by Luis Torres de la Llosa
NEW YORK (AFP) -
Known for bringing tabloid journalism to the Internet, the Drudge Report has made waves again by revealing Britain's Prince Harry was deployed to Afghanistan.
Drudge Report rocked the media world in 1998 when it broke the first reports about President Bill Clinton's extra-marital affair with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, a scandal that nearly cost him the presidency.
Ten years later, the site is an influential force in US media, serving as a platform for rumors of all kinds, scoops and also dubious, unverified reports.
The website caused a stir earlier this week in the US presidential election campaign with a photo of Democratic hopeful Barack Obama dressed in African traditional garb amid accusations the picture had been leaked by rival Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Drudge Report's exclusive on Thursday on Prince Harry's posting in southern Afghanistan shattered a news blackout deal that had held for 10 weeks. British media and some foreign news organizations had agreed not to reveal the British royal's deployment to the volatile Helmand province.
The British defence ministry quickly announced Prince Harry would be withdrawn from Afghanistan: now that his deployment had been publicized they felt it had put him and his fellow soldiers at risk.
The site is the brainchild of Matt Drudge, a former supermarket employee who became "the most influential journalist in the United States" in the words of conservative commentator Pat Buchanan.
The site receives five billion hits a year, and had more than 20 million hits in a 24-hour period after revealing the whereabouts of Prince Harry.
Drudge began his project modestly in 1994 with emails sent to friends and two years later it evolved into a newsletter, moving gradually from celebrity gossip to political news.
In 1996, he had his first major exclusive, reporting that Representative Jack Kemp would be Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole's running mate.
Two years later came the Lewinsky bombshell, making Drudge famous and for many on the left, infamous.
Newsweek magazine had been preparing an article on Bill Clinton's relations with Lewinsky and was trying to verify details before publishing the story but Drudge got word of it and went public.
Seen at the outset as merely a collection of flimsy rumors posted on the Internet, the site has gained a degree of respect over time. Politicians, reporters and businesses look at Drudge Report to stay abreast of the hottest, most salacious news items.
As for his politics, Matt Drudge could be described as a conservative independent, an opponent of abortion with a strong populist streak, not always aligned with the Republican Party's tenets.
Conservatives tend to like him and Democrats detest him, though they have become resigned to his presence and try to avoid becoming a target for his attacks.
According to reporters Mark Halperin of Time magazine and John Harris of Politico, authors of a book about the 2008 White House race, Drudge is the Walter Cronkite of his era. The revered former television anchor for the CBS network, Cronkite was arguably the most influential journalist of the 1960s and 1970s.
Despite its scoops, the Drudge site tends to be treated with a health warning, with some reports turning out to be false or without solid sourcing.
Among the less triumphant moments for the site were "revelations" about a child allegedly born to Bill Clinton and a black woman; or an alleged extra-marital affair by 2004 Democratic candidate John Kerry. Both proved false and were dropped.
Born in Maryland to a Jewish family, Drudge, 41, published a book entitled the "Drudge Manifesto" in 2000, which includes some poetry and his view of his work. He is based in Miami, living off the income generated by the site.
Despite its large audience, Drudge Report still retains a simple, crude design virtually unchanged over the years, with numerous links to the big media outlets.
The site has proven more lucrative than his early jobs at convenience stores and supermarkets. Two years ago, Drudge said he was earning more than a million dollars a year, mainly from advertising on his website.
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