Don’t get me wrong, I understand the magnitude of Drudge Report and that what he’s done as a journalist in many ways helped blogging and online journalism get where it is today, but I don’t necessarily have to like the site. As some of you may have noticed, I’m a little left-leaning, and Drudge isn’t exactly subtle with his right-leaning headlines. Essentially, Drudge is a collection of links to stories typically written but more traditional journalists, with his own snarky headlines as links.
The Huffington Post, which I’m a little more inclined to peruse more often because of the more liberal take on things, at least has some more original content. Sure, it links out to a lot of other established news organizations, but it also has blog commentary to match.
I have a hard time calling either of these really journalism, per se, as they tend to link out to content produced by others (Drudge more so than Huffington). And, let’s be honest, if I want a list of headlines I’d be more inclined to go to a site that’s just going to list them with their original headers than an unorganized mess like Drudge.
Which brings me to the main point I just don’t bother with these sites that often: They’re unorganized, difficult to manage, and I just can’t stand a messy website. Huffington is that way on the top but is a little more manageable as you scroll down, but Drudge greets you with a large ad and then a pile of black-text links strewn wherever they fit. Sorry guys, I’d rather spend my time reading the content than picking through poorly designed websites.
