HuffPo At Two Months

Monday, July 11, 2005 HuffPo At Two Months Well I gave the Huffington Post a shot. I go there regularly to read the stories and leave lots of comments, so I guess I have as much experience with the place as anyone. After 2 months I gotta say that most of the bloggers there are no-names that have no business blogging, the headlines are often overly pumped up and misleading if not outright inaccurate, and many of the commenters give DU a run for their money when it comes to putting their worst prejudices (and manners) front and center. I think HuffPo tries too hard. Arianna is swinging for the fences, trying to bring down an administration, or at least humiliate it, the way Drudge did. Why reinvent the wheel? Her efforts are a bit too transparent however. Here is a rather telling quote from the blogmistress herself: Here at the Huff Post we plan to chronicle the Bush administration’s deeper and deeper descent into siege mentality. What are the hallmarks? Denial, defensiveness, doubletalk, robotic reiterations of stale talking points, wild counterattacks, a pathological fear of admitting mistakes, and an utter inability to change course -- even when the current course is taking us right over the cliff. Practically reads like an employee manual for Bush administration staffers, doesn’t it?" Wow, talk about creating a template. Notice how Arianna has preordained a 'deeper and deeper descent into siege mentality' which is obviously Arianna's dearest wish. One guesses this HuffPo wish will come true, whether it conforms to reality or not. Ugh, does she have to be so transparent about this? Can't there at least be a nod to objectivity, detachment, or disinterestedness in the selection or presentation of a story? Fox News at least pretends to be Fair and Balanced, and Drudge actually is fairly egalitarian about the stories he chooses, he plays the contrarian now and then. Arianna however, feels the dire need to orchestrate every ping in the Echo Chamber. I am beginning to think that Arianna is parroting Kos. I wonder if she perhaps does this on purpose, because deep down she has no real core. After all, her political views seem to be quite fungible and changeable depending upon the particular political winds of the time. She once aped conservative views with all the outward conviction and focus that she now reserves for Leftist views - perhaps, not quite sure herself, she needs Kos' guidance as to what those views actually are. Arianna repeats the view, without the authentic Leftist angst. For example, right after the London bombing, Kos said this terrorist act shows that the flypaper theory is false. Arianna said much the same thing. When Kos says it, it is ignorance masquerading as indignation. When Arianna says it, somehow it is merely gauche. The authoritativeness the HuffPo has achieved could lie on the spectrum ranging from Washington Post gravitas to tabloid rag fluff--and I hate to say it, because I have something of a time and effort investment into it--that at this point HuffPo is a lot closer to the checkout lines at Walmart than it is to the corridors of power in Washington. Ken Says: Perhaps all of the original critics of the HuffPo were right, and they could see where it was headed before it even really got started. The place just literally sucks the IQ points out of you. I am not sure that I want to play in Arianna's liberal fantasyland anymore. Linked to Mudville Gazette and Outside the Beltway. 4:58 AM | | |