Drudge Report has been criticized by a liberal blog over the portrayal of the standoff between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and federal authorities.
Drudge Report, a conservative news website that links to stories, promoted a story about the standoff by proclaiming that “heavily-armed feds surround Nevada ranch.”
The story was featured prominently in the top part of the website, an area that can drive millions of pageviews to stories.
However, the way the website portrayed the story was not well-taken by Media Matters, a liberal blog that often criticizes Fox News and other conservative outlets, as well as conservative elected officials and other conservatives.
The blog asserts that Drudge Report is “recklessly promoting” the conflict between Bundy and the federal officials.
Bundy says that his cattle can graze on open range, which includes a portion of desert that houses an endangered tortoise.
The Bureau of Land Management disagrees, and officials with the agency earlier this week went to the area armed and took out dozens of cattle.
Also featured on Drudge’s homepage was the headline, “Militia Members Arrive: We’re not ‘afraid to shoot’...”:
The post by Media Matters highlights the difference in how conservative and liberal media outlets have been covering the dispute.
Some liberal outlets have downplayed any concerns about government overreach and labeled Bundy as a terrorist (Media Matters calls him a “scofflaw Nevada rancher”).
Conservative outlets and some others have been publicizing Bundy’s views and say that the use of force in the situation was unwarranted.
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