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.”

The Drudge Report is one of the most influential news aggregators around. However, Matt Drudge’s headlines, shortened to achieve maximum lean to the Right, do tend to ruffle some feathers. One such ruffle-victim appears to be Janet Napolitano who spoke out to Politico about the way the site depicts her, calling Drudge “just wrong” about her privacy policies.

Living here in New York City, it’s not too difficult to determine where it is that various high-powered liberals hang out (everywhere), but where do conservative members of the media hang their hats? Do they ever feel the need to get away from the (literal and figurative) chill of NYC or DC? Well, evidently, if one wants to run into well-known conservative pundits and politicians while working on one’s tan, there’s no better place than South Florida.

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.

Conservative media lightning rod and former “Matt Drudge bitch“ Andrew Breitbart is nothing if not quotable, a quality he displays to amusing effect (intentionally and otherwise) in his interview for April’s issue of GQ magazine. Asked why former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R-FNC) wasn’t on his 2012 dream ticket (he picked Allen West and Michele Bachmann), Breitbart responded that the job was “beneath” her. The governorship of Alaska must have been positively subterranean, then.

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“?

For a little over a week, an eternity in news cycle dog years, the uproar over TSA pat-downs has dominated the media landscape like the bastard spawn of Rod Blagojevich, Sarah Palin, and Balloon Boy. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend news dead zone, there seems little chance its momentum will slow, but The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz may be ushering in the most welcome phase of this story’s arc: the inevitable backlash against the TSA backlash.

The parade of TSA horror stories continued this weekend, as a YouTube video featuring a young boy being patted down has gone viral, hitting the top spot on mega-aggregator The Drudge Report. In the cellphone clip, posted by college student Luke Tait, a shirtless young boy is being patted down by TSA agents, prompting Drudge to dub the video “Hands on Boy.”

The TSA has responded to the clip on their blog, and offered some facts that differed from the account posted on Tait’s YouTube account. After the jump, check out the video, and decide if TSA’s explanation really helps at all.

John Tyner, the man whose viral video refusal to have his “junk touched” has made him something of a folk hero, appeared on Fox News‘ America Live to respond to unfortunately-named TSA administrator John Pistole, among other things. While Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano maintain that the privacy of Tyner’s privates is a small sacrifice to make, software engineer Tyner says his hardware is off-limits.

In an editorial for USA Today, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended new airport security measures, just as pat-downs have come under attack via a viral video of a man refusing to have his “junk” touched by TSA officers. Napolitano assured travelrs that the new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) units are safe and secure, and described pat-down measures for those who refuse AIT scans. According to Matt Drudge, this means “The Terrorists Have Won!”

To follow up, Napolitano also held a press conference this morning to answer questions about the policies. Video after the jump.

The Drudge Report is running the headline “MADAM: Spitzer as boring on TV as he was in bed…,” which links to a Radar post that has Kristin Davis (no, not that Kristin Davis) comparing Eliot Spitzer‘s new show to his alleged prowess with Davis’ stable of prostitutes (no, not that stable of prostitutes). Davis is [...]

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.

After a federal judge in California struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage because it was unconstitutional, the cable shows went on high-alert covering the decision by Judge Vaughn Walker by talking to everyone from the lawyers involved in the case to Sarah Palin.

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?

As if Shirley Sherrod hasn’t already suffered enough at the hands of the conservative blogosphere, the hits just keep coming. Last week, I brought you a preview of the right’s second bite at the apple, an emerging conspiracy smeary about Sherrod’s initial hiring by the USDA. Now, The American Spectator has accused Shirley Sherrod of lying about the lynching of a relative in order to glam up her personal history. I wish I was kidding.

The national media have been much quicker to report on the National Enquirer-driven Al Gore sex scandal than they were the John Edwards story, both of which featured underpinnings of traditional journalism, such as named sources, documents, and in Edwards’ case, photographs. It may surprise some, then, that quick-to-lecture-on-journalism Politics Daily Chief Editor Melinda Henneberger is peddling a new rumor about Gore, with a single anonymous source. (h/t Drudge and Washington Examiner)

That’s the question I’ve been stewing over all day. Who is the gutless piece of crap who leaked Dave Weigel‘s Journolist emails to FishbowlDC and The Daily Caller? While I don’t know that person’s identity, I have a feeling it was someone a good deal less talented, and a great deal less honest, than Weigel.

The Washington Post’s David Weigel has issued an apology after e-mails he wrote on the liberal journalist listserv Journolist were leaked to FishbowlDC gossip blogger Betsy Rothstein.

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

The Washington Post did a lengthy profile on Robert Gibbs, from which the Huffington Post gleaned a list of the six biggest press corps complaints about Gibbs. There are some fair criticisms, some of which have been echoed on the record here at Mediaite, but much of the criticism of Gibbs is simply built into the divergent roles of Press Secretary and reporter.

Out magazine’s annual list of the most influential gays and lesbians has been announced and CNN’s Anderson Cooper again tops the list of media names, coming third for the second year in a row. Although Cooper and fellow power-lister blogger Matt Drudge (he dropped from 6th to 15th) have never publicly acknowledged being gay, that doesn’t stop Out from consistently counting the two men–as well as actress Jodie Foster–when tallying who is gay and lesbian.