Earlier this evening, the Drudge Report teased an exclusive with the single most vague headline in modern journalism history: “Network Holds Bombshell Campaign Interview.” Accompanied with the legendary “Drudge siren,” the headline left all of political Twitter waiting on bated breath, until another little tidbit was added: “Civil War at ABC News.” It took a while before the media received any more details, but it was worth it: “Newt Ex Unloads on America; Net Debates ‘Ethics’ of Airing Before Primary.”

According to a report by Reuters‘s Mark Hosenball, Matt Drudge‘s Drudge Report and many others have been kept under surveillance by the Department of Homeland Security. A DHS official involved in the monitoring program confirmed the authenticity of the list to the news agency.

A short while ago, Drudge Report tweeted out this quote: “When my friend told me his wife was Caucasian, I felt my spirit wince.” Intrigued, I clicked the accompanying link to find a column the singer Jill Scott wrote for Essence about her feelings on interracial dating posted in March of 2010. At first, I wondered why on earth Drudge Report was interested in a year old column by a singer. Then it hit me; she’s going to the White House, isn’t she? Sure enough, Scott is the latest guest of the First Lady’s poetry event to come under fire from the Right.

Within seconds of the most embarrassing presidential press conferences since Abraham Lincoln was forced to prove he was really dead by not breathing for 12 hours, the reaction on Twitter became the most interesting thing going. Everyone’s Twitter feeds had instantly been filled with a flurry of “certificate talk” (except for mine since I only follow the soothing thoughts of Taylor Swift). Some people were lamenting the time wasted, some were parsing President Obama’s words, and, amazingly, some already seemed to be questioning the document’s legitimacy. The amazing part, of course, isn’t that people were doing that. In fact, no one expects the certificate’s release to really change anything. The amazing part is who was questioning it.

Coincidence? Maybe. But there’s no denying the stories Matt Drudge puts on his Drudge Report get plenty of attention. For bloggers and media types, a Drudge link feels like winning the lottery–suddenly the world’s at your door, eagerly consuming your content. But what if the content in that Drudge link is bad news about your business? Well, that’s a lot of eyeballs reading something you’d rather see buried. Instead, the Drudge link can grab hold of your stock price and sink it six feet under.

Glenn Beck had some fun today on his radio show mocking the headlines he read on the Drudge Report that were about him. The headlines on Drudge’s website read “IT’S ON!” and “NYT: GLENN BECK MAY BOLT FOXNEWS; START HIS OWN CHANNEL.” Beck and his crew laughed at what they perceived to be absurd headlines.

Today during his press conference, President Obamaa had a number of incredibly important topics to cover. He had to discuss the new budget, the escalating protests throughout the Arab world, and the- whoa! Hold the phone! Did he just stutter his words and say something that sounded kind of like the S-word? Stop the presses, boys! We’ve got ourselves a headline!

Notoriously elusive internet aggregator Matt Drudge has decided to give his internet persona a voice away from the screechy headlines. With little fanfare, the Drudge Report added to the tops of its stories a link to a Twitter stream promising the “personal views” of the man behind political media’s biggest fan of Courier font.

If there is one cardinal rule that binds all media and all mass production of information, it’s that sex sells. It sells big and it sells female, whether it’s scantily clad photos of Fox News’ leading lady or x-rays of curvy skeletons in heels. It’s been the bane of the existence of many women for decades, and instead of subsiding for them as media evolves, something bizarre has begun to happen: what do we make of our culture when the sex that is selling is gaunt, male, brainy, and wanted by Interpol for rape “sex crimes“?

We’ve covered the 2010 midterm election… a lot over the last few days and weeks. But one name who hasn’t been mentioned on Mediaite is Kristi Noem, and you know what, we’re going to change that right now.

The newly elected GOP Congresswoman from South Dakota currently has not one, but TWO, pictures on Drudge, so it’s time to learn about this person.

In a comparison that is sure to upset nearly everyone involved, Fox News contributor and Newsday columnist Ellis Henican compared the mysterious whistleblower site Wikileaks to the mysterious right-wing aggregation site the Drudge Report on Fox News Watch yesterday. His comparison was in response to the description of Wikileaks as a “collection bin,” but this is probably a more remarkably apt analogy than Henican initially realized.

There has been so much reported on Shirley Sherrod and Andrew Breitbart that it’s hard to believe that there are actually news junkies out there who don’t understand the story, but they apparently exist. What’s harder to imagine is that a television news anchor like Chris Matthews happens to be one of them. In today’s opening segment on Hardball, Matthews debated Howard Dean and Salon Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh about the tape, and steadfastly refused to believe that Breitbart published an edited version of the clip. Huh?

Earlier this year, a juror in a high-profile case came forward with a shocking allegation: after reaching a verdict, her peers conspired to cover up her dissent and to develop an untrue representation of how their decisions were reached. As evidence, she presented a number of emails between the jurors. The New York Times carried the story that Monday on its front page, below the fold; CNN hosted the emails on its site.

Bill O’Reilly has already admitted that he doesn’t understand the racial overtones of a Drudge Report headline saying “Obama Goes Street” in relation to his strong words against BP, but to explore the topic further, he had Democratic strategist Tara Dowdell and Tea Party activist Rev. C.L. Bryant last night for a second try at convincing him that there is a racial danger to the President expressing anger.

Bill O’Reilly found it fairly strange that, after clamoring for the President to show anger, many in the media then found it distasteful for him to turn around and express his frustration while trying to find “whose ass to kick” over the BP oil disaster. Of particular note was Drudge Report proprietor Matt Drudge‘s headline: “Obama Goes Street,” which O’Reilly saw as “nifty” and “kind of with it” but was amazed that anyone would see a hint of racial commentary in it.

While delivering remarks in the Rose Garden about financial regulatory reform, President Obama was briefly upstaged by a scurrying rodent. The critter’s cameo sparked heated debate over its zoological identity (was it a rat? a mouse? a vole? WTF is a vole?), some Zapruder-esque photos, and a raft of rodential quips. The little guy even got a Drudge link and a Twitter shout-out from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

The story of John Edwards‘ affair with Rielle Hunter seems to have raised a media meta-quandary about how to treat stories reported by The National Enquirer. Should we report on them? Should we report that they’re being reported? Throw in a Drudge link to an already explosive rumor like, say, the President covering up an affair with a former campaign staffer, and it’s damn near irresistible. There is a responsible way to cover something like this

Chaos in Arizona, an oil spill the size of Rhode Island, and now this on the eve of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner: the National Enquirer published a story last night claiming that President Barack Obama was caught having an affair with a former campaign staffer at a Washington hotel, and they might have the tape to prove it. (UPDATE: Enquirer retracts video claim)

Here in Washington, we don’t get the daily glory of the New York Post to keep us on our hyperbolic, pun-driven toes when it comes to headlines. However, we do have one source of joy, and it comes courtesy of one of the free dailies that you’ll see commuters reading on weekday mornings: The Washington Examiner.

Is the country ready for six more months of this sort of thing? Early this morning the Democratic National Committee released this extremely short video of President Obama rallying constituents ahead of the 2010 midterms. Pretty tame stuff. That constituency included “”young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women who powered our victory in 2008 [to] stand together once again.” What that got translated into courtesy of Drudge was Obama “playing the race card.” Yes.

Who: Brian Williams, interviewed by Jeff Greenfield
What: “In the News with Jeff Greenfield – Brian Williams”
Where: 92^nd St. Y
When: April 18, 2010
Thumbs: Up

Earlier this week, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, the body’s official gatekeeper, levied a warning to staffers to avoid such sites as Matt Drudge’s DrudgeReport.com and several other online destinations, such as WhitePages.com. The rationale? Apparently the Senate Help Desk has been dealing with a large number of viruses, and these sites were possible sources of computer problems. Drudge thinks that timing is…convenient.

One of the reasons I started the “Inside the White House Press Corps” series was so that people could see a different side of the people who play a large part in guiding the American political narrative. In this preview of my interview with NBC Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd, we see a more animated figure than we’re used to, discussing the “Drudge Effect” (my phrase) in journalism.

The gossip blog Radar Online released an exclusive report suggesting – complete with vagrant links leading to “Top Ten Celebrity Mugshots” and the Bristol Palin child support paperwork – that the resignation of Chief Justice John Roberts from the Supreme Court is imminent. It took about fifteen minutes for them to be forced into retracting the statement, but in exchange for some political credibility Radar won an all-important link on the Drudge Report and a small mention on Fox News, besides the internet wildfire of links all through the political blogosphere.

One of the takeaways from President Barack Obama‘s physical over the weekend was that he’s still struggling to quit smoking.

But there was another vice mentioned as well: alcohol. And the characterization of his imbibing is a point of contention right now on several media outlets.