Matt Drudge

Founder of the Drudge Report

• Born: October 27, 1966
• Place of Birth: Takoma Park, Maryland

Primary Company/Organization:Drudge Report

Introduction

Matt Drudge is the creator and editor of the eponymous website theDrudge Report. Although the website is reviled by some, the self-proclaimed antigovernment libertarian created one of the more popular sites by offering aggregation of news found elsewhere as well as some original stories. Drudge includes links to sites from across the political spectrum and has developed a reputation for sometimes breaking news stories before large news organizations do so.

Early Life

Matthew Nathan “Matt” Drudge was born on October 27, 1966, in Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Drudge's father, Robert, was a social worker, and his mother, who went by several first names and who changed her surname from Kudish to Drudge to Star, worked at one point for Senator Edward Kennedy until she had to resign to address mental health problems. Drudge's parents, whom he has described as Reform Jewish Democrats, divorced when he was six. Drudge lived with his mother after his parents' divorce and was relatively unpopular in school, forming few friendships. Drudge attended Northwood High School in Rockville, Maryland, where he earned his diploma in 1984, ranking 341st in his class of 355.

After high school, Drudge moved around a great deal, living in New York City for a time. He held a variety of different jobs during this period. He worked during the 1980s as a telemarketer for Time-Life Books, as a clerk at a 7-Eleven convenience store, at a McDonald's restaurant, and as a stocker at a grocery store. In 1989, Drudge relocated to his father's hometown, Los Angeles, where he worked as a clerk and later manager at the gift shop at CBS Television City, located in the Fairfax district. While there, he became accustomed to hearing rumors about the entertainment industry and lived in a small Hollywood apartment. By 1994, Drudge's father had expressed concerns about his son's lack of ambition and purchased him a desktop computer in an attempt to provide him with some direction. With this machine and dial-up Internet access, Drudge began the Drudge Report as an e-mail that he sent to a few friends and later posted to a Usenet forum.

Life's Work

Early editions of the Drudge Report focused on providing gossip and opinion related to the entertainment industry. Drudge used his access to gossip regarding ratings, cancellations, and other media information before it became publicly known. He also sometimes included political gossip, which proved of interest to many of his readers. Because they enjoyed the Drudge Report, they forwarded it to friends, who in turn were added to Drudge's subscription list. By 1995, the Drudge Report had more than a thousand subscribers, all of whom received the publication by e-mail.

Drudge began to attract national attention in 1996, when he identified Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole's choice of vice presidential running mate as Jack Kemp before any of the mainstream media had done so. As a result of this scoop, the Drudge Report's popularity soared, and by 1997 more than eighty-five thousand subscribed to Drudge's e-mail service. Beginning in 1997, Drudge also started to make the Drudge Report available over the World Wide Web, which greatly expanded his audience. The Drudge Report's real breakthrough, however, came about as a result of the scandal involving White House intern Monica Lewinsky. A reporter for Newsweek magazine, Michael Isikoff, had learned of reports that President Bill Clinton had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with twenty-three-year-old. Newsweek was prepared to publish the story on January 17, 1998, but decided not to do so at the eleventh hour. The Drudge Report first reported on the Lewinsky story on January 18, 1998, beating its closest rival, the Washington Post, which did not break the story until January 21. This scoop generated a great deal of positive press for the Drudge Report, and the website became popular, especially with more conservative readers. Drudge became known for including information on his website that the mainstream media will not include, such as exit poll information while the polls are still open.

The Drudge Report's design has seen few modifications or upgrades since its debut and consists of a headline and photograph above the title and three columns below, mostly links to stories in other publications, against a plain white background. Drudge uses a red font for stories he considers especially important, and for breaking news—such as that involving a U.S. Supreme Court opinion on a controversial issue or the death of a major celebrity—a flashing blue and red light appears at the top of the screen. The Drudge Report includes advertisements that generate revenue for Drudge.

The Drudge Report is estimated to be among the top two hundred websites visited daily in the United States, and it is among the top nine hundred globally. The website generates more than 40 million visits per month and is especially popular with political insiders, such as congressional staffers. This popularity is due in part to the Drudge Report's continuing ability to break stories and cover accounts that the mainstream media have traditionally been reluctant to cover. Examples of content that has generated attention for the Drudge Report include claims of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (which worked to discredit candidate John Kerry) during the 2004 U.S. presidential elections, unflattering photographs of President Barack Obama, and reports on the deployment of Britain's Prince Harry in Afghanistan. The Drudge Report's style of publishing stories without verifying information according to the rules of journalism has caused controversy, especially when errors occur. For example, Drudge's site published a story on a CNN reporter allegedly heckling Republican senators during a news conference, even though video clips showed no such behavior on the part of the reporter.

Drudge understands that the public is fascinated by tabloid-style stories, and as a result the Drudge Report covers topics such as the cancer risks of cell phones and celebrity misdeeds alongside war reports and economic news. Some have compared Drudge to a performance artist, insofar as he balances the public's need for conflicting yet complimentary types of information. Well aware of the power of the Internet, Drudge seeks to feed the public's appetite for almost instant information, especially when other outlets cautiously avoid disclosing unconfirmed reports. Accused early in his career of having a predisposition for mounting dirty attacks, Drudge has become more reluctant to run stories involving the domestic peccadilloes of elected officials. Although Drudge is the bane of many in the media, he has been invited to address the National Press Club, granting a form of legitimacy not just to the Drudge Report but also to bloggers and other web-based news sources. Although controversial, Drudge has stated that his populist approach to the national leaders and events has made the process of news gathering more egalitarian and open. Certainly, the Drudge Report has met a demand for quick and sometimes edgy news.

Drudge has also worked to extend his reach by appearing in different media, including radio, broadcast television, and cable news channels. These attempts have met with mixed results. Drudge had a program on the Fox News Channel in 1998 and 1999, but this program was ended by mutual consent after a dispute about content. Drudge published a book, Drudge Manifesto, in 2000, and it made the New York Times best-seller list. Drudge next appeared on a weekly talk radio show, also known as the Drudge Report, which was syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. Although this program enjoyed some success, Drudge decided to end it in 2007 in order to concentrate on his website.

During the 2016 presidential election, Drudge’s coverage of eventual winner Donald Trump was mostly positive. After Trump’s election, he even invited Drudge to a White House visit. However, in the time leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Drudge’s coverage of Trump turned more negative, leading some conservative commentators to label Drudge a liberal. Coverage of Trump on the Drudge Report remained negative going into the 2024 election, which prompted Trump to publicly attack Drudge. Trump claimed that Drudge’s page views and influence had dropped considerably because of his anti-Trump views.

Personal Life

Drudge lived for years in Southern California, putting together the Drudge Report in his one-bedroom Hollywood apartment. Moving to Miami, Florida, he sought the lower tax rates enjoyed by residents of that state and purchased a home on Rivo Alto Island and a condominium in the Four Seasons Hotel. He never married and is known to have few friends, save for other political commentators, often those who are seen as politically conservative, such as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, but also putative liberals such as Camille Paglia.

When Drudge was seventeen, he was arrested for making a series of annoying telephone calls and was briefly sent to live with his father on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Drudge enjoyed playing video games in arcades as a teenager and had a paper route delivering the now defunct Washington Star. Known to like cats, he at one time adopted a stray, which he named “Cat.”

Drudge enjoys traveling and has done so extensively: in Argentina, England, Germany, and Israel among other destinations. A longtime owner of a Corvette, he has stated that the car is his one indulgence. Suffering from a receding hairline since high school, Drudge often is pictured wearing a hat. While his public persona is combative and aggressive, those who know him in private life say that he is quiet, shy, and sweet natured. He has long admired individuals such as Rupert Murdoch and Andy Warhol, whom he respects for having invented their own career genres.

Bibliography

Drudge, Matt, with Julia Phillips. Drudge Manifesto. New York: NAL Trade/Penguin, 2000. Print.

Farnsworth, S. J., and S. R. Lichter. The Nightly News Nightmare: Media Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections 1988-2008. 3rd ed. Lanham: Rowman, 2010. Print.

Fortinsky, Sarah. "Trump Goes After Drudge." The Hill. 4 Dec. 2023, thehill.com/homenews/media/4341414-trump-goes-after-drudge/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2024.

Mann, T. E., and N. J. Ornstein. It's Even Worse than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. New York: Basic, 2012. Print.

Tewksbury, D., and J. Rittenberg. News on the Internet: Information and Citizenship in the 21st Century. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.