If one carefully examines the Drudge Report and the so called ‘exclusive’ stories he has allegedly broken over time — from the Monica Lewinsky affair with President Bill Clinton to the recent outing of Prince Harry fighting in Afghanistan — you will find that he is more of a facilitator for news leaks, than a journalist, who is often used by third parties for ulterior motives.

Third parties use Drudge for the leak that is often necessary to uncover the larger story which is then reported in depth by the mainstream media, not Matt Drudge.

Sometimes these leaks are for political purposes, publicity for celebrities, or business leaks by someone with an ax to grind.

More often than not Drudge is used by the mainstream media to break a story they don’t want to break first, or, to promote a story some 10 hours in advance of it appearing in their newspaper, media outlet or website.

On more than one occasion Drudge has provided the tease for stories appearing in no other than the New York Times.

Why? Because his site has the ability to drive millions of persons world-wide to these media outlets.

However, to call it journalism would be an injustice to those who truly uncover, research and report the news of the day, or, to those that express opinions and provide insight, such as columnists.

Ninety five percent of the Drudge Report consists of hyperlinks to other news sources, reserving that five percent for exclusives, often delivered in a red typeface with a silent but flashing siren.  It is not much more than a full page press release with snippets of news leads, not much different, nor as honest, as Public Relations Newswire, albeit with much more perceived credibility.

The Internet made this possible for Drudge, and to his credit he found his niche.

It is interesting to note that leaks fed to him today sometimes even come from those who were once considered his enemies yesterday, such as the Clintons.

Drudge’s writing is disjointed, delivered in a Walter Winchell bulletin style with . . . . (dots).  He has been known to compare himself to this writer, while wearing a Winchell-like fedora hat.

Politics drives Drudge and it would not be unlike him to take a feed from a Clinton campaign staffer, as he did the other day, and run a two-year old photo of Barack Obama dressed in Somali elder garb while on a visit to Kenya, with the express purpose by those who gave him the photo to inject racism and imply a Muslim connection in the closely Democratic nomination campaign for President.

Following the photo’s appearance, with brief caption, noting that he received the photo from the Clinton campaign, the hound dogs of the mainstream media picked up the scent and ran with the story and Drudge moved on to the latest leak, the outing of Prince Harry.

Although many have given Drudge credit for this story, he was not the first.  When initially posting the outing, he gave credit to an Australian women’s weekly called “New Idea.”  They reported, it could “exclusively reveal” that the “maverick prince” had already seen front-line action.  He also gave credit for a brief mention in the German newspaper “Bild.”  However, these two credits were quickly removed in the next posting and replaced with, “World Exclusive.”

Here is an example of the story and the Drudge journalistic prose:

“PRINCE HARRY FIGHTS ON FRONTLINES IN AFGHANISTAN’ 3 MONTH TOUR

Thu Feb 28 2008 11;01;34 ET

They’re calling him ‘Harry the Hero!

British Royal Prince Harry has been fighting in Afghanistan since late December — and has been directly involved in gun battle, the Drudge Report has learned.

The prince, a junior officer in the Blues and Royals, and third in line to the throne, has been a “magnificent soldier” and an “inspiration to all of Briton.”

Prince Harry is taking part in a new offensive against the Taliban.

Ministry of Defense and Clarence House refuse all comment.  Army chiefs have managed to keep the prince away from media and have encouraged fellow soldiers in his squadron to stay quiet.

Developing . . .”

Developing?  Yes, by others who wanted to break the complete story, but were cooperating with the British Ministry of Defense to protect Harry and his fellow soldiers.

Within hours of the Drudge leak, photos and stories, the likes of which John Wayne would have been proud, appeared on TV stations around the world, on the Internet and in newspapers.

And hours later after Prince Harry was outed by Drudge, he was on his way home.

It would be impossible to talk about Drudge without referencing his first big break, or leak, the affair that President Clinton had with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

The story was first uncovered by investigative journalist Michael Isikoff of Newsweek Magazine.

Isikoff had prepared the story, submitted it to the desk, but several hours before Newsweek was to go to print, the article was killed by top Newsweek executives.

The next morning the beginning of the Lewinsky story broke on the Drudge Report.

It was the winter of 1994 that the Drudge Report made its debut. In his book the Drudge Manifesto, he says “Out of the gate . . . “I was breaking and making news.”

There are two items of interest about the disjointed Drudge Manifesto, it was written with Julia Phillips.  Why would a journalist/reporter need assistance to write a book?  Secondly, it was dedicated to Linda R. Tripp, the one time friend of Monica who secretly taped conversations she had with her friend about the affair Lewinsky had with Clinton.

To say Drudge is a phenomenon is an understatement.  The mainstream media in the early days wouldn’t even recognize his existence.   Many called him a hack and referred  to his website as mere tabloid reports.

But today the mainstream media readily admits that he is a driving force behind the day’s news agenda.

Today the Drudge report is the first place the media goes to for news.  He gets multiple hits from them and others each day driving millions globally to his and then other news outlets. He is now courted by the media and political operatives that once put him down.

All of this from a guy starting out with a 486 Packard Bell computer working from what he called in his book, “my Hollywood hovel” . . . “Thanks to a growing network of sources . . . “I become a player, consistently able to break big stories.”

He has moved from his Hollywood “hovel” to a palatial Mediterranean-style stucco house on Rivo Alto Island in Florida’s Biscayne Bay and has a condominium at the Four Seasons in Miami.

At one point Drudge was a sales clerk in the CBS gift shop in Studio City and worked a stint as a 7-Eleven night manager. He does not have a university education or a journalistic background.

He is still being reported on in the mainstream media as a loner.  He does not give interviews or comment on his actions in the Drudge Report, even as of late, when he was responsible for the outing of Prince Harry and the shorting of his combat career.

However, I see the Drudge Report for what it is — flacking for the ulterior motives of third party interests — not journalism.  Nevertheless it has become a powerful media tool globally and has yet to be duplicated.