Can The Drudge Report Just Go Away

Honestly, I'm not surprised that a site like The Drudge Report has stayed on the Internet for so long, but I am frustrated that the mainstream media hasn't called it out on its blatant lies, scandals and other conspiracies it spews.

The article from Salon really spoke to me as far as how much the mainstream media eats up what The Drudge Report puts out there. The premise of the site is posting links to various news stories with clickbait-y headlines, which are not very truthful. In this article, Salon states that popular mainstream publications like The new York Times, Wall Street Journal and Fox News receive a lot of traffic because of The Drudge Report links to their articles. This raises a problem because it shows why they aren't calling the site out for their lies. Mainstream media receives attention through this site, so why would they report badly on it?

This is why mainstream media is problematic, because instead of bringing attention to important issues and actually striving to do good reporting, they are most focused on the business side of journalism, which is how many clicks they can get on their articles, the revenue they make from advertisements, etc.

The Drudge Report, according to this article, played a big role in getting Trump elected as president. For example, they reported lies about Hillary Clinton having an affair with Huma Abedin, as well as rumors about her failing health. These two lies were talked about amongst mainstream media as truth, and may have cost Clinton the election itself.

As members of the media, we have the responsibility to present the public with the news in some way, shape or form, not compile a list of links and gain attention from mainstream media groups. It's important to call out media that is benefiting from sites like The Drudge Report.

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