The success of Matt 'Scoop Brady' Drudge

Noah Shachtman writes today in Salon that Matt Drudge has a newfound appreciation for Republican scandal.

I don't buy the premise -- as my quotes in the article attest -- but I was happy to pass along something I found in January: Drudge's $2,350 contribution to the Republican Party.

Although Drudge is the journalistic Mozart to my Saliere -- he's self-taught, laughably inept, and rich from reporting; I'm a J-school grad, reasonably competent, and out of the field -- sometimes I have to admire his achievement.

I can remember visiting Drudge's site when he was only a year removed from publishing his work on Usenet and still had a Lainet address. I thought it was funny that he would include himself in a roster of links to pro media.

Now that weird bit of wish fulfillment has become true. It's like we're living in the episode of the Brady Bunch where Peter Brady calls himself "Scoop" and pretends to be a reporter, but instead of learning a valuable lesson about influence peddling and integrity, he makes a fortune and is hired to anchor the evening news.

2003/10/01 · 2 COMMENTS · Link

Comments

In a correction to the Salon article, Drudge claims the donation in his name is a fraud.

#1 · Mark Morgan · 2003/10/02

I read that too, but it's a pretty incredible claim. It seems highly unlikely to me that someone who knew his private home address in Miami's South Beach would commit a felony and spend $2,400 in the hopes that people might search for Drudge's name in an election database in the future.

#2 · Rogers Cadenhead · 2003/10/02