Arianna Huffington's ideological transformation

[sasha031]

Source: Washington Post

Did Arianna Huffington just sell out her fellow progressives?In the literal sense, she undoubtedly has: The sale of Huffington Post to AOL for $315 million (including a large pile of cash going to Huffington herself) means this powerful liberal voice is formally joining the "corporate media" its writers have long disparaged.
There are also some indications that she has sold out in the ideological sense and committed the Huffington Post to joining the mainstream media - the evil "MSM" of "HuffPo" blogger ire. Announcing the deal, she and her new boss went out of their way to say that the new Huffington Post would emphasize things other than the liberal politics on which the brand was built.
AOL Chairman Tim Armstrong said he thinks "Arianna has the same interest we do, which is serving consumers' needs and going beyond the just straight political needs of people." Huffington agreed, boasting that only 15 percent of her eponymous site's traffic is for politics (that's down from 50 percent a couple of years ago), and she emphasized that politics is just one of two dozen "sections," including a new one devoted to covering divorces.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/08/AR2011020805179.html?tid=nn_twitter

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I know Milbank can be a jerk, but I think this piece say allot about Huffington.
it gets better at the link.

But in the late 1990s, Huffington began to reinvent herself. She covered the '96 political conventions for Comedy Central with Al Franken. She broke with Gingrich. She disparaged Bob Dole. She promoted Warren Beatty for president. She published a book favoring campaign finance reform. In 2000, she hosted a "shadow convention" protesting both parties.
She later explained the "transformation" of her political views by saying the right had "seduced, fooled, blinded, bamboozled" her.
That's crazy talk. Nobody bamboozles Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington. If anybody was fooled, it was those who believed she would be a more enduring progressive than she was a conservative.

[housewolf]

1. To me, HufPost has looked more and more like the Nat'l Enquirer

and other tabloids over this past year, to the point where I hardly ever go there anymore, with an over-whelming emphasis on entertainment. Well, maybe "Entertainment Tonight" would be more fair.

I know there's some good political journaalism there, but the overall theme of the site is not not what I want to be supporting or experiencing. Once in a while I check in there. but it's not a place that I really enjoy.

[sasha031]

3. maybe Al Gore's Current will fill any void

I use twitter, getting stories 1st hand.

we all survived before Huffington, I don't think it will effect us one way or other.

you are so right about all th salacious gossip, wait till the merger with AOL is complete, it will be worse.

[cilla4progress]

4. I agree -- going down the tubes

What else is there for us political junkies left now beside DU and right-wing Politico? I checked into The Nation website and you have to subscribe in order to get decent content!

[glinda]

11. USA Today on steroids.

[MedicalAdmin]

19. These days I visit HufPo as often as ...

I visit Walmart.

In case you are wondering that means NEVER.

[Matilda]

2. Was she not a Republican at one time?

It might make some sense of what she's done.

[emulatorloo]

15. The OP's article has a good bio of her. She used to work for Newt Gingrich!

I remember her on the the Geraldo Show calling for BIll Clinton's head on a platter, side by side with Ann Coulter. But I did not know about the Gingrich part.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Mind you, that only starts in the 90s. Here's an article about the 70s and early 80s:

From New York Magazine:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=luICAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA32&ots=dMJol4dfHu&pg=PA32#v=onepage&f=false

[PatSeg]

21. What a great find, thanks

Really gives a bigger picture of the woman.

[KT2000]

5. the new Divorce section

was a signal of her new direction. Fluff.
I wonder how the unpaid contributors feel about this.

[msongs]

6. umm she couldnt tell the difference between a gay/straight man...her husband bamboozled her nt

[The Wielding Truth]

7. That's not something we should discuss.It's there,but it's personal.

[YvonneCa]

10. I'm remembering...

...that Ariana. :)

[GETPLANING]

8. AOL has long been infested with conservatives

I went to the AOL site to read the story about the sale of Huff-Po to AOL and the comments from AOLers were all "I'm cancelling my AOL" and "We've been betrayed" and "OMG teh liberals are taking over". It was hilarious reading the whining and belly-aching. Personally, I have never been a reader of Huff-Po, so it doesn't make any difference to me. All of the contributors' work can be found elsewhere anyway. Sounds like Arianna gets $315 million and all the readers are leaving. "LOL"

[Firebrand Gary]

9. Do what ever you like, I am going to see how this plays out before passing judgement.

Besides, we could build another Huffpo in 7 days if we wanted. I don't think you are going to see much difference.

[JDPriestly]

12. It takes forever for me to upload AOL on my computer. I probably will not

be visiting Huffington Post if it is associated with AOL.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. I think her only motivation in her "transformation" was further humiliating her ex-husband

[peace frog]

14. I thought of that, too

Hell hath no fury, etc.

[fasttense]

16. AOL will turn it into a conservative mecca.

"The new Huffington Post would emphasize things other than the liberal politics on which the brand was built."

Yeah, like conservative politics.

[dcsmart]

18. good for her....315M....screw liberals....no 1 can say no 2 $

[PatSeg]

20. Arianna Huffington is committed to one thing,

Arianna Huffington. There never was a "transformation", she just does and says whatever works to boost her ego and enrich her bank account. A while back she made the absurd suggestion that the VP should resign, but it became very clear that it was just a tactic to get invited to appear on all the TV shows that had been ignoring her.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

22. she was a Republican for most of her life..wasn't she married to a Republican congresscritter or..

some big rightwing muck muck?

[WCGreen]

23. I never trusted her see the light moment...