The Accuracy of the Drudge Report

I am amazed by how many people think that The Drudge Report is an accurate news source. On a number of occasions it has published lies.

On Jan. 1, 1999, it told the public that Bill Clinton may have fathered a boy named Danny Williams, and Matt Drudge believed the claim to be true. A DNA test proved that Clinton wasn't the father of Danny. The next day, Drudge posted this comment: "And while the elite media will bark that it was wrong to report the DNA chase that was unfolding behind the scenes--until after it was all over, of course--DRUDGE REPORT readers of all stripes have come to expect details on events rocking and shocking those unfortunate souls who rise to power."

In 2004, the Drudge Report claimed that Senator John Kerry, a presidential candidate at the time, had a "mystery relationship" with a young "intern." The intern in question was Alexandra Polier. On Feb. 16, 2004, Polier announced publicly that the story was "completely false."

On April 1, 2007, Drudge posted this on his web site: "During a live press conference in Baghdad, Senators McCain and Graham were heckled by CNN reporter Michael Ware. An official at the press conference called Ware’s conduct ‘outrageous,’ saying, ‘here you have two United States Senators in Baghdad giving first-hand reports while Ware is laughing and mocking their comments. I’ve never witnessed such disrespect. This guy is an activist not a reporter."
Yet by viewing the video of the press conference on YouTube.com, anyone can see that Drudge’s claim is false. Ware never heckled McCain; he didn’t even speak during the press conference. Despite being mistaken, Drudge never posted a correction to his claim.

On Jan. 29, 2009, Drudge posted an AP article, which he entitled, “Hill Republicans: Stimulus Gives Cash to Illegals.” The article had the following quote from an anonymous source: “[t]he $800 billion-plus economic stimulus measure making its way through Congress could steer government checks to illegal immigrants, a top Republican congressional official asserted Thursday.” Later that day AP issued a revised version of that article, because it was found that the quote by the “top Republican congressional official” was false. According to mediamatters.org, it took Drudge four hours after the correction to be made for him to change the headline and post the revised version of the AP article.

As you can see, the Drudge Report has been wrong many times in the past. This does not surprise me after I read the following quote by Matt Drudge: "Screw journalism! The whole thing is a fraud anyway." Drudge clearly doesn't care about journalism or telling the truth. So people need to stop trusting him.