The War of the Worlds?  Or the War of the Words?  It’s the Old Media vs. New Media…the kind of prize fight Drudge loves.  Take a ringside seat at your own risk.

We at DrudgeBlog approve comments (excepting spam) regardless of whether or not they are favorable to us or Matt Drudge.  In fact, we encourage respectful disagreement and meaningful dialogue. 

We are not remotely interested in your information or in contacting you.  A pseudonym is one thing, but posting under the guise and with the e-mail and other vitals of another actual individual is ignoble and unethical.  Going forward, “identity filchers” will be screened out.

Let’s take responsibility for our own actions and statements. 

Matt Drudge may have tossed out his own iPod, but you can catch him on yours. Subscribe to the new podcast or RSS via Drudge Radio Archives (complete with each radio show’s bumper music) or the iTunes Music Store.  Another great option for when you can’t stay awake Sunday night…but do continue to support live radio when you can.

Give up?

ALL of the listed stories were covered in the Miami-Dade print media.  All but #8 occurred in Miami-Dade (the teen who skipped town for a vacation in Iraq hails slightly north up in Fort Lauderdale). All but #1 appeared in the Miami Herald, with the tale of the father-daughter marriage covered in the local alt weekly Miami New Times. 

Stories that made it to Drudge: #s 6,7,8, and 9.

Some of the freakiest and most poignant news stories occur right in Matt Drudge’s backyard.  While it’s true that the Drudge Report sports links to South Florida personalities like Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry, some of the most — well — Drudgiest news seems to escape Matt’s radar.  Maybe it’s the low profile he keeps on his home base, maybe it’s the fact that Miami-Dade is viewed as a secondary media market. While he has admitted to watching Miami TV for “tabloid trash” he loves, product out of the Miami Herald, Miami New Times, and Drudge Report don’t necessarily overlap.

Maybe he’d do well to check out the news outside his window.  I mean, besides when there’s a really cool storm outside (which he has photographed and posted on the site).

Which brings us to this week’s quiz:  Which of the following news stories appeared in a Miami-based mainstream news outlet…but not picked up by the Drudge Report?  Which were on Drudge and have nothing to do with South Florida?  Which were covered by both?  Test your Miami mettle below!

1.  A young woman tracks down her wealthy biological father and they bond. Then they marry. There is a symbolic ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Then a nasty divorce and legal brouhaha ensues.

2. Over 125 Islamic religious leaders, community members and students rally to show their solidarity with Palestinians.  Their assembly venue of choice: the vicinity of an area Holocaust memorial.

3. A prominent publicist flees on foot after police stop him from parking his Jaguar in a handicapped space.  He tries to claim that his mother’s disabled permit is his own and that he has a bad knee.  He takes off running, however, when a computer check finds his license suspended.  Months later, the same officer spots the publicist and arrests him as he leaves his VIP-studded birthday party…and finds two bags of cocaine in the process.

4.  In a follow-up to item #3, the man’s fiancee/PR business partner defends him in the press: “Nick keeps saying he’s the new Kate Moss.  It’s not like he’s some big dealer.  It’s really a very minor thing in the scheme of life…I truly don’t think Nick has a problem.” (Aside from being a public relations specialist, the fiancee is a syndicated advice columnist pursuing a master’s in mental health and marriage/family counseling.)

5. A new homeowner discovers a 15-foot Burmese python living in the apartment closet.  The snake’s previous owner had left it with a supply of water and a blanket to keep it warm, but never informed anyone. (This type of python can grow up to 20 feet and live up to 35 years.)

6. A less fortunate python explodes trying to ingest an alligator. The snake’s head remains unaccounted for.

7. Grounded by his dad, a teen runs away to his mother in Cuba.  No one notices that a minor is leaving the country alone.

8. As part of an “immersion journalism” project, another teen scurries away to Iraq and travels elsewhere in the Middle East.  No one notices that minor leaving the U.S. alone, either.

9. Three suspicious individuals — two Iraqis and one Lebanese national — are detained at a U.S. seaport after authorities become suspicious of their documentation and the contents of their cargo truck.

10.  One day after Item #9, the same seaport authorities detect explosives in a package of sprinkler parts being loaded onto a cruise ship.

Answers will be posted next week!

Gotten your beauty sleep?  It’s time for another year of high times and hijinks, merrymaking and madcap media mayhem.  But first, a look back at the year we’ve left behind:

Worldwide news consumers in general began the year hung over from the high drama of the previous year’s scandals and natural disasters…and ended the year feeling a little antsy.

Saddam in particular began the year feeling a little antsy from the high drama of the previous year…and ended 2006 feeling a little hung.

In general, celebrities whose private lives don’t concern us occupied our minds more than the issues that do affect us.  In particular, I’m avoiding naming names for fear of giving them further attention.

In particular, figure heads like Katie Couric and Rupert Murdoch continued to be more famous than the news they played a role in disseminating.  In general, this is nothing new.

In general, the people who showed the most dignity in the media spotlight were those who eschewed it completely: In particular, the bereaved Amish community who banded together after the tragic Pennsylvania schoolhouse shooting comes to mind.

Internet journalists in particular learned they can be jailed just like their mainstream counterparts for refusing to turn over unpublished videotape and other legal evidence. 

Bloggers in particular learned they can get sued for millions just like Drudge (Washingtonienne’s Jessica Cutler by a man claiming exposure and humiliation on her blog; Perez Hilton by paparazzi for copywright issues).  They learned they can snag a book deal (ICM agent Kate Lee scours blogs for talent), win an award for a “blook” (the Lulu Blooker Prize for blog books)….or they can get plagiarized by the mainstream media.  They also learned they can upgrade to the mainstream media: Gawker’s Jessica Coen took a post at Vanity Fair, the original Wonkette Ana Marie Cox is now at Time.

Drudge in particular garnered a little more credit than credit is perhaps due as the so-called “Walter Cronkite of his era) (Mark Halperin and John F. Harris, Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008) and lots more blame than blame is due (supposedly “blaming the victims” for stating that the generation of Mark Foley’s teen IM buddies are less than innocent).  He broke traffic record (topping over 25.1 million page views) and hit yet another high number (the big 4-0). Just when things were developing a veneer of normalcy, he discovered a Little Green Man and invited him onto his radio show (the Little Green Footballs blogger who broke the story on Reuter’s doctored photo).

Drudge Blog in particular:  RegoPark finally produced a ton of media research after 2 1/2 years gestation (the novel’s still in progress), and Lance reproduced after only 9 months of gestation. 

And everyone in general managed to snag Time’s Person of the Year, including YOU, fulfilling the prediction of Andy Warhol in particular… that everyone will become world famous for 15 minutes…for 15 hours or so.

What I try to do in this space is provide informed insight — be it amusing or serious — on topics germane to Matt Drudge or Internet journalism that the average media consumer does not possess.  Not that I’m infallible in my expertise by any means, but that I have a specific skill set that can sometimes generate meaningful dialogue that hasn’t already been hackneyed on the Web. Because I’ve worked in advertising,  I understand how media is purchased and can explain how unlikely Matt Drudge is to have or exercise control over his site’s pop-up ads.  From my PR work, I can discuss how he is media-savvy in some ways and self-defeating in others. And because I took the time to research his bio and work logistics, I usually have a thing or two to say about nearly any media decision he makes.

I’ve concluded many things. That he’s overly excitable but not histrionic. That he likes to make mischief but isn’t interested in launching a smear campaign or expending energy on a single political cause.

Like the “War on Christmas” controversy, the subject of Matt Drudge is divisive.  Some readers will never change their minds about him come hell or high water. They will view any Drudge headline or news story concerning Matt himself through their own politically tinged lens. But I do have facts that will shed light on both topics — info that doesn’t pop out on a cursory Google search. So irrespective of my own opinions on politics, religion, or what Matt Drudge, should or shouldn’t be, let me correct some misunderstandings that generated comments in last week’s entry.

From the AP reports linked on the Drudge Report, it is unclear who really shares blame for what in the Seatac Airport menorah controversy.  They offer a very specific account of the port authority’s actions but only a vague rendering of what Rabbi Bogomilsky said or did, when, and why.  The only “paper trail” I found of Bogomilsky submitting a draft of a lawsuit was reported on December 18 and 19, after the radio show and my posted commentary thereon.  Yet Drudge and others had formed stong opinions on his intentions (to see his faith noticeably represented? To neutralize Christmas?) and the merit of his argument and the haste of his actions without knowing for certain what they were. 

The rabbi’s perceived behavior doesn’t seem in line with the highly mission-centered, media-focused outreach organization he represents. While I don’t share Chabad’s political leanings or strain of Orthodoxy, it’s difficult to conveive of any Chabad-Lubavitcher showing his backside to an outsider as it appears on the surface…even in a private conversation.  Their modus operandi is forging civic relationships and exposing unaffiliated Jews to traditional Judaism in a nonthreatening way — a tall order at best, particularly in December when Jewish-Christian relations can be the most awkward.  Chabad arranges public menorah lightings in cities all over the country without any apparent strife with authorities.  It’s not about one individual rabbi’s ”jihad”.  He’s replicating a model that his colleagues do successfully everywhere. Even if he didn’t happen to be the most effective rabbi with the most educated heart, he couldn’t be that stupid.

News consumers form opinions on reports without thoroughly reading or understanding what they have read.  Too often, what they accept as informed fact is sloppy seconds from radio hosts and media pundits without reading the original stories firsthand.  Don’t think so?  Scour letters to the editor and blog commentaries on the first week of each April.  Also research Internet rumors and lampoon articles.  Did Tommy Hilfiger really tell Oprah on-air that he designed clothes for white people?  Did Joe Lieberman really announce he’d refuse to vacate his office even if he weren’t re-elected? Did Dollar General Corporation state its intention to purchase naming rights to a popular nature reserve and rechristen it Dollar General Lake? Was the Drudge Report bought out by MSNBC? Does Matt have a publicist named April Fools?

It’s incorrect that, unlike Christmas trees, menorahs are viewewd exclusively as religious symbols. Right or wrong, a hanukkiah carries strong cultural connotation for many secular or nonobservant Jews.   Not that everyone’s happy about that.  Many Jews of various levels of religious observance are not on board with Chabad’s or other Jews’ idea of menorahs on public property.  Arguments range from the commercialization of a religious holiday, First Amendment issues, the  false equivalence between Hanukkah and Christmas, and inflating the eight days’ significance. ( Hanukkah’s a minor holiday to begin with, primarily associated with home rituals.  Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, Passover and Shavuot dwarf its importance in the scheme even further.)

Drudge tends to get carried away with the gestalt of social party poopers (eg. principals banning sugar in schools and other favorite kvetches). I feel that he passed the opportunity to think critically about something that should be second nature to him. He grew up in both a family and a metropolitan area of “Just Jewish” influences where socioreligious events are watered down to dreidels, Hanukkah presents, and latkes — just like Santa, Frosty and Rudolph tend to maneuver Jesus out of his prime placement spot. 

News stories should raise questions, not affirm pat answers.  When I read the Seatac story, I had a barrage of questions.  How did this happen?  How did the communication reach this nadir? How did the personalities of the players involved affect the outcome?  Who paid for those 14 Christmas trees? Was the rabbi in dialogue with only one authority or two? Why did the powers that be think it would be easier to erect, dismantle, and re-mantle over a dozen trees (an ACTUAL problem) than to erect the menorah and risk a barrage of similar requests (a THEORETICAL problem)?  And who leaked this story to the press?

But to Matt, there was already an answer: “Christmas and everything fun/innocent/good/stabilizing is under attack.”

I don’t hold Drudge to  a politically or religiousl correct standard of what a Jewish person should be.  If I did, I’d find fault on his on-air and online defense of Judith Regan, who was accused this week of anti-Semitic remarks. I understand from the context of hsi statements that there’s a frightful amount of bad blood between her and Rupert Murdoch’s minions.  She should be given the benefit of the doubt until more information is known.  Would that it were the case for Matt’s own public opinion!  And would that it were the case for public opinion toward Bogomilsky!

What I do expect of Matt Drudge is to be cognizant of nuances. I expect him to know that Menorahgate is not a cut-and-dried issue. I expect him, a First Amendment and civil libertarian, to at least understand where all these apparent anti-Christmas boogeymen are coming from.  I expect him to realize that, while he understands what he chooses not to agree with, he is perpetuating one misunderstanding he could clear up, or at least not fuel:

There is no united or agenda-driven war on Christmas.  There may be a threat to the social order and Christmas culture that you value.  It is arguable that some lawsuits may go to o far, but there is no conscious ambush on the holiday itself.  Even among the Jewish community, there is a diversity of opinion of whether addressing a church/state violation is worth the ensuing drama, effort, misunderstanding, and ill will.  A rabbi whom I interviewed for a college paper on the subject summed it up like this:  “Even if the law is clearly being broken, it’s often like leaving a store realizing the cashier shortchanged you.   Probably neither of us will go back for a nickel.  We’ll both go back for a hundred dollars. That doesn’t make it a non-issue. But we have different limits.”

Likewise, Matt Drudge is not waging an agenda-driven war on anything or anybody.  There is no campaign. There is no intrigue.  There is no plot.  So if you want to honor the spirit of the Christmas message of “peace on earth, good will toward men”, STOP CREATING IMAGINARY CONQUISTADORS!

Happy holidays! Your Christmas is safe with me.

Well, this is an emotional moment for me as well as an auspicious one.  I’d like to thank my family, my professional colleagues, Drudge Forum, Lance for inviting me to contribute to this site.  Thank you for making me the Person of the Year. 

I’d like to thank each and everyone who took the time out of their busy schedules to comment on this site.  Who told me about online poker.  Free porn.  Ways to increase my johnson.  And of all the strangers to accost and beg for money, they chose me.  I’m not entirely sure how my need for Viagra leaked out into cyberspace, but maybe the 350 friends I haven’t met yet have a point.  In any case, whenever I screen Drudge Blog’s comment box, I am reminded time and time again that someone out there is there and they care.  Especially when they assume other people’s identities or “borrow” their e-mail addresses. You may not make it past my velvet rope, but never fear. Someone noticed you standing in line. 

And I’d like to thank YOU.  Whoever YOU are.

(P.S. YOU are also Time’s Person of the Year. Don’t sweat it.  Drudge admits thinking they were talking about him, too.)

I can’t say that Drudge’s reaction to the Seattle Airport “Christmas deforestation” is any different than many other Christmas decoration jihadists who all think the observant Jews of the world are the Grinches out to steal Christmas.  I believe his reaction is genuine rather than histrionic — most people consuming this layered news story really seem to ”understand” that a local rabbi pushed the airport to remove all Christmas decorations when, in fact, he neither expected nor wanted them to.  It was the decision of the airport director to remove the trees already in place when they could not work out the logistics to erect the menorah the rabbi wanted.  Guess who looks like the bad guy? 

What fills me with consternation is Drudge’s ramblings last night that the rabbi was hurting Jewish-Christian relations and that someone “should sue him for threatening to sue the airport”.  Bubbeleh, I think you are hurting interfaith relations when you report and comment on a ”December dilemma” story you don’t understand.  Just because you flunked out of Hebrew school doesn’t mean you have to dumb down your limited knowledge for the rest of us.  And another thing: understand your own damn religion and community before you tear down its esteem to all of middle America.

It wouldn’t be so amusing were there any possibility of calculated histrionics.  But after you follow him for awhile and know what makes him ornery, it’s a hoot to listen to Drudge go running off at the mouth over an injustice he’s passionate about (see yesterday’s entry).  But then came words I never expected to hear out of his mouth: “I’m sorry for the rant and rave about the full-body X-ray.”

I’ve never known for Drudge to really apologize or backtrack for anything publicly since the post-Blumenthal mea culpa in the Washington Post…Just found it amusing, that’s all.