Instapundit
Type of site
warblog[1][2][3]
Created byGlenn Reynolds
URLpjmedia.com/instapundit

Instapundit is a conservative[4] blog maintained by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee.

History and characteristics

InstaPundit was launched in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law.[5][6] After the September 11 attacks, the site quickly became a highly popular blog—with Reynolds celebrated as "chief among the warbloggers"[7]—and was dubbed the "Grand Central Station of Bloggerville"[8] in 2002 and reported to be "the most visited [blog] in the world"[9] in early 2004. A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Reynolds as one of the five "best-read national conservative bloggers."[10]

Common topics are politics, technology (such as nanotechnology), space exploration, human longevity, digital photography, individual liberty and gun politics, domestic policy, the media, and the blogosphere as a social phenomenon.[11] Instapundit frequently discussed the war on terror from a supportive-but-critical viewpoint. Reynolds has also lent his support to the Porkbusters campaign, which purports to expose misallocation of federal funds.[12]

In June 2009, Reynolds changed his blog header to the color green from its original red, in support of the anti-Ahmadinejad/pro-Mousavi protests made after the Iranian Presidential election.[13] This was originally supposed to be a temporary show of support, but it lasted about three months. On September 7, 2009, Reynolds replaced the green with his customary red, remarking, "I’m back to the original design. 'Going Green' was supposed to be a show of support, not a permanent change, and the summer’s over. My support for the Iranian freedom movement is no less, but symbolism takes you only so far."

Influence on other bloggers

Sometimes referred to as "the Blogfather,[3][14] and credited with an "ethic of driving traffic to new blogs from all over the political spectrum,"[3] Reynolds managed to attract a large following of imitators who adopted his blogging style. His ability to "foster a hospitable environment for new bloggers" has been attributed to his involvement in home-recording punk and new-wave music, and his adaptation of the participatory ethos of these musical styles to online publishing.[15]

In April 2002, Reynolds published a list of well over two hundred blogs that claimed to be directly inspired by his own.[8][16]

Instapundit's popularity led to the common adoption of the suffix "-pundit" in blog titles, for example Kevin Drum (who originally blogged as "CalPundit") and Allahpundit. There are also direct take-offs on the entire name, such as Instapunk, and IsntAPundit. There are many other "-pundit" blogs, of all political stripes inspired to some degree by Instapundit.[17]

Quotations

Another way that Instapundit has been a major influence on other bloggers is a set of ironic titles that it repeats on many different posts. Many of these titles have become part of the conservative lexicon. Some examples:

  • "You want more Trump? This is how you get more Trump!"
  • "Why are Democrat-run cities such cesspits of corruption?" (where "cities" and "corruption" is replaced by whatever the story is about).
  • "They told me that if I voted for (Republican presidential candidate) I would see (terrible result) - and they were right!" (pointing to a story about where a Democratic president or politician did just that).
  • "Faster, please" (about some life-extending discovery).
  • "Higher education bubble update" (some indication that the current college system is collapsing).
  • "Think of them (i.e., the media) as Democratic operatives with bylines and you won’t go far wrong."
  • "I'm so old, I remember when..." (something that something or somebody claimed recently, but now is demonstrating just the opposite).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sullivan, Andrew (2002-02-24). "A Blogger Manifesto: Why online weblogs are one future for journalism". The Daily Dish. Archived from the original on 2002-11-13. Retrieved 2008-02-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ↑ Gallagher, David F. (2002-06-10). "A Rift Among Bloggers". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2016-07-31.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. 1 2 3 Welch, Matt (September 2003). "Blogworld: The New Amateur Journalists Weigh In". Columbia Journalism Review. 42 (3). ISSN 0010-194X. Archived from the original on 2003-12-06. Retrieved 2016-08-04.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ↑ Gavin, Patrick (2014-02-03). "Answer This: Instapundit's Reynolds". Politico. Archived from the original on 2023-02-24.
  5. ↑ Clark, Brooks (November 18, 2014). "Irrepressible Contrarian". Quest. University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
  6. ↑ Reynolds, Glenn (August 10, 2001). "So far so good for Bush". InstaPundit. Archived from the original on August 16, 2001. Retrieved 2016-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ↑ O'Brien, Barbara (2004). Blogging America: Political Discourse in a Digital Nation. Wilsonville: Franklin, Beedle & Associates. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-59028-040-9.
  8. 1 2 Seipp, Catherine (June 2002). "Online Uprising". American Journalism Review. Archived from the original on 2002-08-02. Retrieved 2016-07-30.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ↑ Boutin, Paul (February 2004). "The Blogfather's hit list". Wired. Vol. 12, no. 2. Archived from the original on 2004-02-26. Retrieved 2016-07-30.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ↑ GOP issues rules to avoid Macaca moments, Carrie Budoff, Politico.com, Jun 13, 2007
  11. ↑ "Outreach and outrage". Economist.com. 2006-03-09. Archived from the original on 2006-04-23. Retrieved 2016-07-31.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ↑ Welch, Matt (2006-04-01). "Farewell to Warblogging". Reason. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  13. ↑ Ben Smith (June 16, 2009). "The right divides on Iran". The Politico.
  14. ↑ Sunstein, Cass R. (2006). Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge. Oxford etc.: Oxford University Press. p. 181. ISBN 0-19-518928-0.
  15. ↑ Driscoll, Edward B. (September 2007). "Atlas Mugged: How a Gang of Scrappy, Individual Bloggers Broke the Stranglehold of the Mainstream Media". The New Individualist. Vol. 10, no. 9. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2016-08-02.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  16. ↑ Reynolds, Glenn (2002-04-07). "Okay, at long last!". Instapundit. Archived from the original on 2004-06-22. Retrieved 2016-08-02.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  17. ↑ Wolfe, Jeffrey A. (2003-10-24). "InstaPundit Inspired Blogs". JeffWolfe.com. Archived from the original on 2004-06-26. Retrieved 2016-07-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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