STRAIGHT TALK
By Jeffrey Zaslow
Issue date:
July 3-5, 1998
Matt DrudgeWith a new show on the Fox News Channel, the online gossip takes
his controversial act to TV. Don't fear the Internet, he says.
"It's a mirror of who you are."
 att Drudge's gossip-blabbing Web site is one of the most read
and reviled stops on the Internet. Now, with a new show on cable's Fox
News Channel (Saturdays, 10 p.m. ET), Drudge believes he has the right
attitude and the right mug to conquer TV."My face looks like it's been punched," he says proudly. "People are
tired of pretty-boy reporter studs. [A television newsman] shouldn't
have a face that's perfectly cut. He shouldn't look clean, because news
isn't clean." Certainly, Drudge, 31, is a master at dirt. Fans turn to his "Drudge
Report" (available via e-mail or at his Web site,
www.drudgereport.com)
for mucky reports not found in other media. In January, when
Newsweek opted to hold its blockbuster story on a then-unknown
Monica Lewinsky, Drudge broke the news worldwide. Drudge is a kind of old-time gossip hound with a cyber-edge. If he'd
been the Newsweek reporter whose Lewinsky scoop was held, he
says, "I'd have quit, walked into the street, called a press conference
and said, 'I've got a story to tell!' " When he learned of Lewinsky,
Drudge says, he "ran down the street screaming, 'This just in!' My
street happened to be the information superhighway. But I was screaming
as loud as I could, with exclamation points flying!" The Net allows the free speech envisioned by the Founding Fathers,
Drudge says. "The Internet is what you make of it. If you think it's
just porn, it says something about you. If you think it's just gossip or
sports -- it's a mirror of who you are." Critics charge that Drudge's Internet is unchecked rumormongering.
He incorrectly reported rumors that White House adviser Sidney
Blumenthal had abused his wife. Drudge retracted the item, but
Blumenthal filed a $30 million libel suit. Drudge, who works out of his apartment in Hollywood, says mainstream
media types want to ruin him because they fear the Internet. But when
major newsmagazines write dismissively about garbage on the Net, Drudge
has to laugh. "I read them in toilet stalls."
Photo Credit: DAVID STRICK FOR USA WEEKEND
DRUDGE'S ADVICE
How to view news on the Internet:
"Magazines like Penthouse, The National Enquirer and
Time are all sold on the same newsstand. The Internet is just
like a newsstand. Consider the source." If the Clinton-Lewinsky matter makes you "feel dirty":
"You should feel dirty, but not because the reporting is
dirty. It's a dirty story, and it's unresolved. [President] Clinton
promised to tell us more sooner than later. But he hasn't. Don't shoot
me; I'm just a reporter." "Woodward and Bernstein used a parking garage to meet
sources. I have online chats with White House staffers." Question conglomerates:
"Don't believe the Time Warner spin on things. They control a lot of
magazines, movies, broadcast outlets. They get to decide what's hot.
Like John Travolta: He's a cold fish, but Time Warner wants to maintain
that he's hot. They're looking out for their own interests."
Zaslow is an advice columnist for the Chicago
Sun-Times.
ASK DRUDGE
Matt Drudge will write or call a reader who seeks
advice. By JULY 12, write to "Straight Talk," P.O.
Box 3455, Chicago, Ill. 60654 (fax: 312-661-0375; e-mail: talk@usaweekend.com).
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