A Boldface Name Invites Others to Blog With Her

Arianna Huffington, the columnist and onetime candidate for governor of California, is about to move blogging from the realm of the anonymous individual to the realm of the celebrity collective.

She has lined up more than 250 of what she calls “the most creative minds” in the country to write a group blog that will range over topics from politics and entertainment to sports and religion. It is essentially a nonstop virtual talk show that will be part of a Web site that will also serve up breaking news around the clock. It is to be introduced May 9.

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Among those signed up to contribute are Walter Cronkite, David Mamet, Nora Ephron, Warren Beatty, James Fallows, Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Diane Keaton, Norman Mailer and Mortimer B. Zuckerman.

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In some ways, Ms. Huffington’s venture is a direct challenge to the popular Drudge Report. Started nearly a decade ago by Matt Drudge, the Drudge Report lifts potentially hot news from obscurity and blares it across a virtual “front page,” usually before anyone else. While his squibs are sometimes cast with a conservative slant, his “developing” scoops often send the mainstream media scrambling to catch up.

Actually it looks like yet another attempt by Arianna to get her name in the spotlight. Further: this again proves many in the MSM don’t “get” blogs, as if what Arianna is proposing is, indeed, a blog (I am somewhat unclear as to whether it really will be), then Drudge isn’t the direct competition.

I expect that this will generate a lot of initial attention, but I have a hard time imagining that it will be possible to actually get the famous folks in question to actually blog on a regular basis.

Here’s the Drudge angle:

Ms. Huffington’s effort – to be called the Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com) – will also seek to ferret out potentially juicy items and give them legs. In fact, she has hired away Mr. Drudge’s right-hand Web whiz, Andrew Breitbart, who used to be her researcher.

Another question arises: this is clearly a for-profit enterprise. Yet, I can’t imagine that it will generate enough revenue to actually pay all the contributors (or, at least, pay them at a level commensurate to what they normally earn–we ain’t talkin’ freelanc writers here trying to cobble together an income). As such, are these celebs donating the material? And if so, how long before they get bored and drift away? And if they are being paid, how long will it be before the whole thing collapses under its own lack of revenue?

It should be interesting to see how it develops.

5 Responses to “Arianna Takes on the Blogging World”

1. Bryan Says:
   April 25th, 2024 at 9:22 pm

   If she’s stealing a web “guru” from drudge, she’s already in trouble. His site is hideous.

2. Arguing with signposts... Says:
   April 25th, 2024 at 9:37 pm

   Huff-blog
   Well, I disappear for a few days, and Arianna Huffington steals my gig.
   Get ready for the next level in the blogosphere.

   Arianna Huffington, the columnist and onetime candidate for governor of California, is about to move blogging from the realm of…

3. John Lemon Says:
   April 26th, 2024 at 12:13 am

   I hope she calls her blog, “Green Acres.”

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5. bio Says:
   November 16th, 2024 at 8:49 am

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