Drudge needles the LAT's Baquet

In the "One Question" feature on I Want Media, Matt Drudge is asked about LAT managing Editor Dean Baquet's assertion in the Sunday paper that because of websites such as the Drudge Report, "people can't tell the difference anymore between rumor and fact," suggesting such sites contribute to a loss of public confidence in journalism. Drudge responds:

Right on schedule, Mr. Baquet. More urgent warnings from corporate news concerns [TRIBUNE] about the dangers of individuals operating outside of their control [INTERNET], not to mention the free will of a reader to go wherever [LIBERTY]. Any random trip through the Newseum in Washington shows the nation's press has always been chaotic and controversial. And I never took Staples Center money with journalistic-ad tie-ins for my magazine [EMBARRASSING]."

Baquet's remark was in a story in the L.A. Times Sunday magazine by Michael D'Antonio. "Sneer When You Say Journalist" is D'Antonio's personal exploration of why the public has become disaffected with journalists and the craft they practice.

By the way, Baquet and LAT editor John Carroll were not in Los Angeles when the Staples Center gaffe occured. Previous management and ownership of the paper. It's not clear that Drudge knew that.