Earlier today, Matt Drudge published the fact that Prince Harry was not only serving in Afghanistan – but he was also very close to the front lines of the fighting there. Looking for any excuse to get out of their promise to the UK government not to release Prince Harry's current assignment, most British newspapers and television stations/networks followed Matt Drudge's lead and went public with this story as well. Late tonight, US time, it was announced that the UK military was already making plans to get Prince Harry out of Afghanistan before terrorist started trying to kill him.
While I have great respect for Matt Drudge and his website that is visited millions of times per day, I think Matt misjudged the importance of keeping the whereabouts of Prince Harry secret. Most of the stories that Matt Drudge links to via his popular site are for the most part conservative in nature and pro military. By ratting out Prince Harry's exact location, in a way Matt Drudge gave aide and comfort to terrorist in Afghanistan and put a valuable UK soldier and friend of the US military in grave danger. I guess I just expected more from Matt Drudge than to use an exclusive story in this way. That said, I understand there are always at least two sides to any story and I hope in upcoming days that Matt will explain his thinking about this matter in more detail.
If some left winged blogger or radio talk show host released this same information today, without a doubt the likes of Rush Limbaugh and other conservative radio talk show hosts would have been up in arms with their lack of patriotism in ratting out an important US friend in the fight against terrorism. While none of us are perfect and most of the stories I read each day on the Drudge Report are interesting and timely, today's public release of the whereabouts of Prince Harry was a mistake and Matt Drudge should not have done it.
I believe that Prince Harry just wants to serve his country like thousands of other British and American soldiers and they should not be put into harms way by reporters or bloggers that are just trying to find some story that will make them personally more popular for a few days. The Drudge Report is a five or six time per day read for me and I will continue to look toward Matt Drudge's leadership when it comes to breaking big stories. That said, I really wish Matt would have used better judgment today before he released the location of Prince Harry. What I really think happen here is that, Matt Drudge saw a huge story and before he thought it completely out he ran with it and in the days to come his initial enthusiasm will be replaced with the hard fact that he made a mistake in judgment.
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Thursday, February 28, 2008
Prince Harry's Service Ended By Matt Drudge
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1 comments:
Thank you for speaking out against the STUPID actions of Matt Drudge. As the mother of an American soldier who was deployed to Iraq in the early days of the war, I am angry, disappointed, and saddened. For Drudge to publish this story, ignoring the obvious danger it creates for a number of people, JUST for a scoop, is cheap, low, and without defense.
I do NOT NEED to know every detail. If someone had hung a sign on MY SON, basically signalling his coordinates to the enemy, I would be outraged. This is no different. It is a WAR CRIME. SHAME on you, Matt Drudge.
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