Drudge disses Hot Air

posted at 3:08 pm on March 19, 2007 by Michelle
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A Hot Air commenter mentioned this last week: It seems Matt Drudge–Internet pioneer, New Media godfather, and tech entrepreneur–has a grudge against little ol’ Hot Air. He made some bizarre, disparaging remarks attacking this site and me on his radio show last weekend. Listen:

Transcript:

Just ugh. The things I want to say right now. But we’ve got an FCC. The things I want to say. Maybe we’ll do, uh, uh, a commentary on the Internet like Michelle Malkin. Maybe I’ll stand in front of like a blue screen and hold a banana and start talking into the Internets. (Sneering tone) ‘This is Matt Drudge reporting on Hot Air.’ Agggh. You know. It’s ridiculous. Looks like, you know, Captain Kangaroo time, Michelle. Get real.

“Get real?” Got whine?

We at Hot Air certainly don’t have the resources to look like the slicksters at CNN or the dinosaur networks. We don’t have multi-million dollar sets, graphics, and wardrobes like Katie Couric. We put substance first over bells and whistles. (You would think someone with a website design circa 1980 might appreciate our priorities.) That said, folks in the broadcast industry have had nice words about our production values and I’m proud of what our team has accomplished in less than a year. In fact, we’ve had broadcast network engineers and producers ask us how we do it. On the blog side, Allahpundit has turned the site into a must-read. We’ve gone from nowhere to a top-30 site on Technorati’s Top 100 list. On the video side, Bryan Preston (I guess he’s Mr. Green Jeans now) has edited and produced nearly 250 daily video shows since last April. Hot Air serves a whopping 14 terabytes per month. We’ve been fortunate to work with incredibly talented people across the country–photographers, animators, Photoshoppers, video editors, musicians, documentarians, and on-air talent. We love what we do here. We’re grateful that our readers/viewers come back for more every day and we strive constantly to improve and expand our products and programming.

What’s it to you, Matt, if we bring our little “banana” microphones and cameras to Baghdad or CPAC or the Doolittle Raiders reunion or the local illegal alien hangout or the Gathering of Eagles (which barely rated a blip on the almighty Drudge radar screen)? What’s it to you if authors find it worth their time to sit down with us for Internet broadcast interviews? Why does it bother you so? What’s it to you, Matt, if my fellow hosts and I spend our time standing in front of a green screen in our basement studio so we can practice the very kind of Internet citizen journalism you once preached yourself?

“Captain Kangaroo time?” Well, someone’s certainly acting like he’s in pre-school.

The Internet is a big enough place for all of us. No need to act like the threatened MSM’ers you became famous for revolting against years ago. As someone once put it so eloquently: “Now, with a modem, anyone can follow the world and report on the world.”

More from that great speech, Matt:

We have entered an era vibrating with the din of small voices. Every citizen can be a reporter, can take on the powers that be. The difference between the Internet, television and radio, magazines, newspapers is the two-way communication. The Net gives as much voice to a 13-year-old computer geek like me as to a CEO or speaker of the House. We all become equal.

And now, kids, back to our show…

Good morning, Captain, let’s come on out and play!
Good morning, Captain, it’s going to be a perfect day!
Get your crayons and your paper and your pencil, too
And come on out and play with Captain Kangaroo!

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