Huffington Post
The Huffington post is a completed website that is updated several times a day. The title page reads “Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post”. The site was created on May 9, 2005 and was last updated about 5 seconds ago. They have a live feed at the top of the home page from the Associated Press. The Huffington Post is the left’s answer to The Drudge Report. The target audience seems to be well educated, tech savvy, with a healthy appreciation for pop-culture. There is a slight elitist feel to the site, only those in the know would understand. At the bottom of the home page there is a list of several links to different news sources and all of them work. The Huffington Post also has easy to use internal navigation and all of those links are working as well. There is some original content, but for the most part, Huffington Post is known for its opinion pieces based from other credible news sources. Outside sources support the information because this site expands upon them.
The Huffington Post was created by Arianna Huffington, once a conservative republican; she changed her tune in the late 1990s and is now more liberal. Perhaps it was her divorce from republican congressman Michael Huffington that led her to evolve. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential women in media (Forbes’s List). She won an Emmy for her work on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, and co-hosted a show with Al Franken on Comedy Central during the 1996 presidential campaign. This was before she became more liberal and was the conservative sidekick to Al Franken a la Hannity and Colmes. In the late 1980s she wrote several articles for National Review, but really came into prominence while accompanying her former husband on the campaign trail. She now co-hosts a radio talk show called Both Sides Now, is a regular commentator on news programs, and is the editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post. You can contact the site at info@huffingtonpost.com. There is also an option to post comments forum style under the blogs and articles. Huffington is a supporter of transparency and that is exemplified throughout the website.
It is very easy to backtrack on this site and there is a great deal of information on Arianna Huffington. The site is credible because the content it publishes can easily be fact checked through the external links on the site. It is not clear what associations as a whole The Huffington Post is linked to. Ms. Huffington is actively involved with several charities in her personal life, but that doesn’t seem to spill over to the site. In recent news AOL has purchased the site for around $315 million. AOL is generally regarded as a conservative company so it is a tad ironic. The Huffington Post has made no mention of changing its content due to the acquisition. Huffington has built her reputation on wit, credibility and transparency so although it is a .com site she is bound to journalistic ethics as well as her own beliefs and will most likely never waiver. The Huffington Post is an online publication only and is very popular because of its credibility, and readers know they can rely on it as a news and opinion resource.
Huffington Post can be overwhelming for a first time user, even though it is very professional in design. There are blogs, news articles, pictures and video all together along with catchy eye-grabbing headlines. The navigation is very user friendly and the content is free of errors. It is very much like a newspaper with photos to match articles, and video for a more interactive experience. I first found the site when I was researching a topic for a government class, it was one of the top three organic sites on the Google search, and then I was hooked. The commentary is intelligent and well thought out, and the news articles are credible and easy to read. Advertisements and editorials are kept separate with information on how to advertise on the site below them. The Huffington Post is an amazing source for political commentary and it’s a proven credible source.
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