Drudge Won't Budge

Ever since I've had high-speed internet access (about the last two years), my first internet stop has been the Drudge Report. I never gave much time to the MSM on the net at all. Sorry, big guys, but your banal TV coverage is what moved me to the internet to begin with. The extent of MSM-internet coverage were Reuters or AP feeds through Yahoo. Oh, and I would read some European dailies on my Yahoo home page.

Over time, my tastes have expanded. Without naming them all here, it seems that each week I find bloggers whose keen insights and special expertise make them the first stop depending on the issue. War strategy, weather, politics, Iraq servicemen, satire, gender politics, even shoe styles are covered in minute-detail with clearly defined biases. I don't have to guess where someone is coming from--I know. But forget bias for a moment. More important, is that the news is fresher, the take more cogent and well-developed, and the person doing the sharing (very few are even paid) is expert not some talking head whose specialty is nodding sagely.

Why, then, won't Matt Drudge link these blogs? Check that. He has a link to Rosie O'Donnell's blog. I'm linking her for the sake of completeness (a good blog trait) even though I find her blather akin to the rantings of the neighborhood Cat Lady. Why her? He links to Michelle Malkin--but that link started to her column. So, Rosie O'Donnell? That's your connection to Blogland?

Why bring this up now? Drudge linked to this article about how Israelis and Lebanese people are chatting through "the internet". No, they are communicating via blogs. They aren't IMing (on the internet). The aren't writing columns (well, some are). They are posting on each other's blogs. The actual and accessible blogs are far more interesting than an article talking about people talking. Drudge could actually link to those blogs so everyone could see first hand. News in the making. Pajamas Media and The Truth Laid Bear have linked them. The Truth Laid Bear actually has a special feature on Israeli and Lebanese blogs. How about a link there?

I guess there is an Internet heirarchy and Drudge believes that blogs are the internet's nether-regions. He is wrong. Perhaps he's afraid of creating a Blogroll. No doubt, some heavy hitter would be left off and be pissed off and, well, write about it. But the time has come for Matt Drudge to expand his link horizons. There are independent reporters and columnists who enjoy huge audiences and deserve bigger ones. But that isn't the most important reason: he will be even more informative by adding blogs. The time has come.