The Huffington Post vs The Drudge Report

News has become available 24/7 with the expansion of the Internet. Along with this expansion, websites leaning either right or left have set up shop, being constantly updated to get news to the public interested in the views of each different site. While very different in their tactics, The Huffington Post and The Drudge Report both adhere to getting out information, mostly political, to keep the public "informed". They rely on other posting through the Associated Press and various newspapers as their sources. One link for a story took me directly to USA Today's website. These websites also use viral videos to link to the stories, editorial pieces, and personal blogs to inform the public. Many of the links I clicked on did match the headline for the story, which made for easy navigation, but it was obvious that agenda-setting is very much a part of these websites. The Huffington Post's major headline was the dealing with the war and high costs of the Afghan war exceeding the costs of the Iraq war. There was picture that was so big, it went far below the scroll with huge headlines in bright red font. The Drudge Report also had an interest catcher piece in the very center of the page, but wasn't of the same context as The Huffington Post's. The names of the websites elude to much different tastes. When I hear, "The Huffington Post" I think of a real paper using the Internet as a media outlet, but when I hear, "The Drudge Report" I think of something I might see on Comedy Central that on right after The Soup. Their layouts are different. The Huffington Post seems more professional and organized like you would see in an online format of USA Today where The Drudge Report seems simple and poorly put together. There is so much going on, like the covers of tabloids, that you get lost in the nonsense...maybe that is the intention? These sites have a very powerful hand in influencing public opinions. It is easy to make editorials and blogs come off as facts or fan the flames of hot political issues by placing a picture of what looks like a soldier aiming at a group of people just looking at map outside their car and happen to be Arab. Photos and viral videos and stories on hot topics are enough to simply sway one reader into a fit about the media and hot issues going on today. Both sites are good at this, but use different tactics to blind their audiences that there is an agenda being set.