By RegoPark
Contributing Writer

I don’t often do a triple-take while reading the ads that grace the Drudge Report . I’ve seen every marketing trick in the book, try to practice guerilla PR (ethically), and can spot an advertisement in sheep’s clothing a mile away. But tonight I noticed that what appeared to be a Drudge link (same style and size font) was actually the caption of an ad for a joke and prank site. The dead giveaway? Its location in the standard ad space on the lower right column.

No, Matt probably did not and would not post his own link called “See Paris Screwing”, even if he liked the link to a video of Paris Hilton using a screwdriver at the side of a pool.

It’s no shock that a rogueish site like Jokearoo would take out ad space on Matt’s site — they would, after all, share much of the same target audience as the Internet’s erstwhile “reigning mischief-maker”. In fact, once Matt posted a joke entry in March 1998 about asteroids heading toward earth — prompting an avalanche of e-mail from angry and distressed readers who didn’t notice that “President Beck is preparing to address the world shortly on this very serious and developing situation.”

Hours later, Drudge followed up with the punchline: it’s a press release for the movie Deep Impact. ..and a point about the blurring lines between showbiz and the news media.

The film calls to mind the ethical nightmares of Summer ‘97, when CNN acted out news in more than a half dozen films in a twisted attempt to product-place the channel: CNN reported dinosaurs being returned to an island; the crash of Air Force One, with the president supposedly aboard; the discovery of intelligent life in a remote galaxy.

“The plethora of blatant MSNBC logos & plugs throughout the film bordered on hysterical,” notes a test screener…

…When asked if NBC would loan talent and network resources for cinematic exploitation, (a spokesperson) told a reporter: “We don’t feel it’s wise to create a blurring of the lines.”

Speaking of blurry lines, isn’t Jokearoo crossing one by creating the illusion that their purchased ad is one of Matt Drudge’s chosen website links?

When you read an infomercial-style spread in print media — the newspaper-style feature story headlined with “Advertisement” in teeny-tiny letters — at least most readers recognize its difference from the format of the publication they are reading. Captioning a linked image with the same font and link format as the Drudge Report, however, is an even greater misrepresentation.

As I’ve explained before, Matt Drudge deals with an outside media company to place his website ads. He does not manage the advertisements himself, does not have direct control over them, and works so many hours on the site that he is highly unlikely to notice or care about most of them. Yes, Drudge’s client purchased ad space. It purchased the right to represent itself on the site. It did not, however, purchase the right to position itself as news. It didn’t purchase the right to implicit endorsement by Matt Drudge. And it didn’t purchase the right to screw Matt Drudge. (To do that, he has to know he’s being screwed first.)

Anyway, that’s another fuzzy media line to watch for. News consumer beware.