Deep Thought, Deep Throat, Deep Secrets
By RegoPark
Contributing Weblogger
Speech at the Washington Press Club, 1998:
MR. HARBRECHT: …How many sources do you require before posting an item?
MR. DRUDGE: Well, a little more than Bob Woodward’s “Deep Throat” from time to time. ..Sometimes I’ll go with one person. The Loral worker who came forward and told me the encryption was missing from the satellite - the biggest nightmare scenario for defense types - I went with that one. I thought that was pretty solid. The guy seemed sincere.
MR. HARBRECHT: How many leaked stories do you get from mainstream journalists, and would you speculate on their motivation?
MR. DRUDGE: That’s a good question, because what I’ve been doing lately is breaking news that’s about to be broken, coverage of the coverage of the coverage. But that’s where we are, since the media is so powerful. The media is comparable to government - probably passes government in raw power.
A lot of the stories are internal. They leak it to me wanting to get attention, wanting to get that headline. More times than not, I will not give it to them. It has to get - has to raise my whiskers. It has to be a good headline. I’m a sucker for a good story. I go where the stink is. I’m a partisan for news. If you got a story, I’ll be listening outside when we’re done. [Soft laughter]
…I don’t necessarily think a populist means you’re out defaming people left and right. A populist press is a press that cares about the country. Most of my sources are concerned citizens, in and out of government, who don’t like the direction of the White House Press Office, for example. Or quite frankly, a lot of the people on the Hill aren’t quite forthcoming answering questions.
…you’d be surprised what the average guy knows. Some of my best sources have turned out to be people who happened to be in the room that shouldn’t have been in the room but who have come forward.
In Radar, 2003:
ROSHAN: Matt, you say that you know what will be on the Times’s front page tomorrow. How can you know unless you’re a psychic, or you can hack into their site?
Jeannette Walls, in all her glory, once accused me of hacking into Newsweek, which is a crime. Lucky for her I never sued for that. Hacking is a criminal offense. And under Ashcroft it would probably land me in Guantánamo. But just think about this: How many people work at the New York Times? The place is just full of leaks, full of sources. And it’s not only the Times. People offer me an endless flow of leads and sneak peeks. Not all for crass publicity reasons, like the Vanity Fair woman calling and saying, “We have this really hot story coming, Drudge. Do you want it first?” It may be that some of the sneaks are unauthorized and bootlegged. But I’m not ready to concede that I’m committing a crime and hacking into the Times.
As I said in my last post, I don’t think Drudge would ever hack into a website. Not because he’s an upstanding social pillar, but because he couldn’t afford to risk it all when so many people would be happy for him to go down. As much of a ‘tude as he has, he’s not arrogant enough to think he’s above it all or that he can’t get caught.
By the way, the gossipmonger Walls actually reported in her book that Newsweek speculated Drudge must have been hacking, but decided not to pursue it because it would give him publicity. Now, if you’re a major newspaper or media conglomerate, are you going to take unlawful data access lying down? Matt would probably have an easier time collecting libel damages off Newsweek for an accusation like that than Sidney Blumenthal would have collected from him had the famous $30 million lawsuit not been dropped.
I think the main difference between Lewinskygate and Deep Throat is that Matt Drudge had nothing to lose and Woodward and Bernstein did. How many journalists can be expected to go above and beyond for the sake of conscience and journalistic integrity to go against the political grain?
For me, at the end of the day, Internet reporters are useful in a way that Pulitzer-winning Times staff members aren’t because their work is not laden with the same liabilities and pressures. Sometimes the best stories come not from the best, the bravest, or the most principled, but those with the most creative and professional freedom.
But to save Drudge from the awful pressure of naming his sources, let me be up front with you on the next Drudge scoop: I am Deep Throat.
And Lance is Spartacus!
by RegoPark - 11:56 am
