By RegoPark
Contributing Blogger

This week marks the anniversary of Drudge’s most celebrated blunder to date since Sidney Blumenthal dropped his libel suit - the Kerry “intern implosion” exclusive that turned out to have no basis in fact. Matt said years ago in the Washington Post that he didn’t maintain his own archives because he didn’t want the humiliation of having his words come back to haunt him. (The since-linked Drudge Report Archives is created by someone else and, like Drudge Blog and Drudge Forum, not connected with Matt.)

But a careful study of the development of this debacle not only reveals the innocence of John Kerry and Alex Polier, but also the division of responsibility among all the journalists and sources in this faux scandal. While the “Kerry intern” tale is known chiefly to be a “Drudge story”, it seems that Matt actually took more responsibility for his actions than some of the other players…and more so than a few people who had a more direct role in the story’s creation. I encourage everyone to read New York ’s The Education of Alexandra Polier, Alex’s autobiographical account of a rumor-in-the-making. From made-up quotes by the Sun to out-of-hand misunderstandings to pundit commentary published without carefully reading and understanding of the subject, this is one of the best case studies out there on the nature of journalism, the origin and complex mechanics of libel and slander, and the challenges of public relations.

The really sad thing about the Alex Polier rumor is that no matter how thoroughly or convincingly she may prove her innocence, she may never be completely freed from its legacy. Some people will always hold onto it — and, indeed, false “stories” remain in cyberspace long after their foundations have been disproven. One website author included Alex’s link but said he didn’t bother to read the six pages. (Why not? He did bother to provide an otherwise comprehensive run-down of her fiance’s family and wealth and social influence.) Such are the constraints of publicity - not only are we guilty until proven innocent, but the onus is on us to prove our innocence in a sound bite. Nobody’s going to conduct careful research of a rumor before packaging it, perpetuating it, basing mainstream opinion journalism on it. Nobody’s going to read a six-page account of The Scandal That Wasn’t five months after the fact. You’re old news by then. What’s an innocent slander victim to do? Drudge himself has been a victim of this and will continue to be.

To be honest, I did wonder whether Papa Drudge’s presence in Matt’s home influenced his reaction to Alex Polier’s phone call. You could argue that he was lying that his father “just arrived for the weekend”. Maybe Matt was in a good mood that day. Maybe he was caught off-guard. Hell, maybe that good old-fashioned Jewish guilt finally kicked into his psyche after all these years. But having read Matt’s raw interviews, et al, from dozens of sources to date, I’m inclined to give him the benefit of a doubt.

My strong impression of Drudge from all the research materials I’ve culled is this: he tends to have very knee-jerk, pride-fueled reactions to personal attacks. He’s used to people going after him to discredit him and ruin his career, and he responds to criticism of most kinds from that emotionally charged paradigm. He’s pretty bad about not making apologies even when they’re called for. Being criticized in public or on air makes him all the more determined to stick to his guns and maintain the upper hand, even when it’s probably foolish. But if someone were to contact him privately and calmly explain their grievance with him, as Polier apparently did, he’d probably react quite differently.

I wasn’t totally sold on Matt’s apology to Sidney Blumenthal — I didn’t think he sounded sufficiently sorry to have publicized an unproven rumor of that gravity. But the Blumenthal case was different in several ways. His lawyers gave Drudge five days to reveal his sources and sued him for $30 million when he refused. Most importantly, there was an inappropriate use of White House resources (human and otherwise) to further a private lawsuit. (No, I don’t think Drudge was literally “sued by the White House” as he likes to say and think, but the truth isn’t too far from that.) Justified or no, I think that if Matt had not been politically ambushed by Blumenthal and the Clinton Administration, he would have shown more remorse and humility for that famous mistake.

Had Matt been a jerk with Alex Polier on the phone, I’m sure she would have made that clear given her thorough account of the other guys who spread the rumor about her and cowardly eluded her when she decided to confront them…and also her fair recounting of the reporters who were more conciliatory. I’d love to know exactly what was said in the 40 minutes Matt and Alex spoke, but maybe what we have says it all. Ultimately, I gained more respect and understanding for dear old Drudgemuffin after reading the Polier story.

RegoPark is a pseudonym for a writer with a background in marketing communications. She is currently working on a novel about PR and the alternative media.