“The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left,” announced UCLA researchers whose recent media study may be “the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.”

(Of the 20 major media outlets UCLA studied, only Fox News’ “Special Report with Brit Hume” and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter. )

“One thing people should keep in mind is that our data for the Drudge Report was based almost entirely on the articles that the Drudge Report lists on other websites,” representatives maintain. “Very little was based on the stories that Matt Drudge himself wrote. The fact that the Drudge Report appears left of center is merely a reflection of the overall bias of the media.”

Don’t want to say I told you so…because it’s too much of a pain in the buttocks to hunt down the links to the entries where I told you so. (It takes more time to insert links than it does to write a full essay.)

But people see what they want in Drudge. Matt’s wit — and his weaknesses — affirm what media consumers want to believe. I was actually a little surprised to hear him characterized as left-leaning because he’s very libertarian. I’ll speculate that he might go a little out on a limb on stories that cover issues he doesn’t see represented in the media.