On his Friday radio show, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh reacted to a piece written by Brent Budowsky, an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) who is now a columnist for The Hill, explaining the significance of Matt Drudge’s The Drudge Report.
Limbaugh acknowledged Budowsky was partially correct in his analysis except for his argument that Matt Drudge has no competitors. Limbaugh argued that Matt Drudge does indeed have competitors, but they’re wedded to an ideology that doesn’t allow for them to emulate Drudge’s business model.
“Matt Drudge has a knack,” Limbaugh explained. “Matt Drudge happens to find whatever there is anywhere and if he thinks – if he’s interested in it, he links to it. He benefits from whatever he is interested in, a majority of Americans are, too. He has a knack – he has a touch for this. The idea that he has no competitors – here you have a failing mainstream media. You have a mainstream media, they are losing, I mean they are hemorrhaging ad dollars. They are hemorrhaging audience, both broadcast and print. CNN doesn’t have an audience. MSNBC doesn’t have an audience and hasn’t had in a long time. Time magazine and The New York Times are hemorrhaging advertisers. The number of pages in both publications is declining.”
“What does it say that millions of Americans have only one place to go to find things they really want to know?” he continued. “If you’re at CNN or you are at The New York Times or you are anywhere, LA Times and you are sitting out there wringing your hands over Drudge, have you ever thought about emulating Drudge? Have you thought maybe the stuff you are doing is not interesting to people? Have you ever thought maybe the news you’re giving people – they don’t care about and they don’t trust? Drudge doesn’t put his opinions up on anything.”
“Matt Drudge is a businessman,” Limbaugh added. “He loves clicks. He loves hits. He loves multiple hits, just like the media used to love big audiences, but they are more concerned about staying true to their ideology, which is the agenda of the Democrat Party. The fact that Drudge has no competitors is what stands out to me. This guy admits it. There are no competitors. The New York Times ought to be the Drudge page. The newspaper of record – the greatest newspaper – if it were being run by true news people, The New York Times would be what the Drudge page is. If you want to know what is happening wherever – things that matter and are important? That’s the reputation all these news organizations want, isn’t it? But they don’t have it. Matt Drudge has it.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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