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{{Short description|American blog launched in 2001}}
'''Instapundit''' is a [[United States]] [[political blog]] produced by [[Glenn Reynolds]], a law professor at the [[University of Tennessee]]. It is one of the most widely-read political blogs.[http://www.technorati.com/blogs/politics] The blog, started in [[August 2001]], began as an experiment and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law. Because of his long-standing prominence in the political blogosphere and his efforts to encourage new bloggers, Reynolds is sometimes called the BlogFather.[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/start.html?pg=10]
{{ad|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Instapundit
| logo = Instapundit logo.png
| logocaption =
| screenshot =
| collapsible =
| collapsetext =
| caption =
| url = {{URL|pjmedia.com/instapundit}}
| commercial =
| type = [[warblog]]<ref name="sullivan-manifesto">{{Cite web|last=Sullivan |first=Andrew |title=A Blogger Manifesto: Why online weblogs are one future for journalism |work=The Daily Dish |access-date=2008-02-11 |date=2002-02-24 |url=http://www.andrewsullivan.com/main_article.php?artnum=20020224 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021113004229/http://www.andrewsullivan.com/main_article.php?artnum=20020224 |archive-date=2002-11-13 }}</ref><ref name=gallagher>{{Cite news|last=Gallagher |first=David F. |title=A Rift Among Bloggers |work=New York Times |date=2002-06-10 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/10/technology/10BLOG.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731120851/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/10/technology/10BLOG.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=2016-07-31 }}</ref><ref name=welch />
| registration =
| language =
| num_users =
| content_license =
| owner =
| author = [[Glenn Reynolds]]
| launch_date = {{Start date and age|2001|08}}
| alexa =
| revenue =
| current_status =
| footnotes =
}}


'''Instapundit''' is a [[conservative]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Answer This: Instapundit's Reynolds |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/answer-this-glenn-reynolds-instapundit-103041 |website=[[Politico]] |date=2014-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224171726/https://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/answer-this-glenn-reynolds-instapundit-103041 |archive-date=2023-02-24 |url-status=live |last1=Gavin |first1=Patrick}}</ref> [[blog]] maintained by [[Glenn Reynolds]], a law professor at the [[University of Tennessee]].
__TOC__


==History and characteristics==
Instapundit is sometimes considered a "[[warblog]]" because of its frequent supportive coverage of [[United States|America]]'s [[War on Terrorism]] and [[2003 Iraq War|war in Iraq]] {{fact}}. Other common topics are [[technology]] (such as [[nanotechnology]], [[space exploration]], and [[digital photography]]), individual liberty, domestic politics, the media, and the [[blogosphere]] as a social phenomenon. Reynolds has recently lent his support to the [[Porkbusters]] campaign.
InstaPundit was launched in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law.<ref name=quest20141114>{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Brooks |title=Irrepressible Contrarian |url=http://quest.utk.edu/2014/irrepressible-contrarian/ |access-date=2016-07-29 |work=Quest |publisher=University of Tennessee at Knoxville |date=November 18, 2014 |archive-date=2018-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617165651/https://quest.utk.edu/2014/irrepressible-contrarian/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Reynolds |first=Glenn |title=So far so good for Bush |work=InstaPundit |access-date=2016-07-29 |date=August 10, 2001 |url=http://instapundit.blogspot.com/ |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010816183513/http://instapundit.blogspot.com/ |archive-date=August 16, 2001 }}</ref> After the [[September 11 attacks]], the site quickly became a highly popular [[blog]]—with Reynolds celebrated as "chief among the warbloggers"<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Franklin, Beedle & Associates| isbn = 978-1-59028-040-9| last = O'Brien| first = Barbara| title = Blogging America: Political Discourse in a Digital Nation| location = Wilsonville| date = 2004| page=20}}</ref>—and was dubbed the "Grand Central Station of Bloggerville"<ref name="seipp" /> in 2002 and reported to be "the most visited [blog] in the world"<ref>{{Cite magazine|volume=12 |issue=2 |last=Boutin |first=Paul |title=The Blogfather's hit list |magazine=Wired |access-date=2016-07-30 |date=February 2004 |url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/start.html?pg=10%3Ftw%3Dwn_tophead_6 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040226190845/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/start.html?pg=10%3Ftw%3Dwn_tophead_6 |archive-date=2004-02-26 }}</ref> in early 2004. A 2007 memo from the [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]] described Reynolds as one of the five "best-read national conservative bloggers."<ref>[http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0607/4483.html GOP issues rules to avoid Macaca moments], Carrie Budoff, [[The Politico|''Politico.com'']], Jun 13, 2007</ref>


Common topics are politics, [[technology]] (such as [[nanotechnology]]), [[space exploration]], human longevity, [[digital photography]], individual liberty and [[Gun politics in the United States|gun politics]], [[domestic policy]], the media, and the [[blogosphere]] as a social phenomenon.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Outreach and outrage |work=Economist.com |access-date=2016-07-31 |date=2006-03-09 |url=http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5601300 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423005243/http://www.economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5601300 |archive-date=2006-04-23 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=farewell>{{Cite news| last = Welch| first = Matt| title = Farewell to Warblogging| access-date = 2016-08-10| date = 2006-04-01| url = http://reason.com/archives/2006/04/01/farewell-to-warblogging|work=Reason}}</ref>
Much of InstaPundit's content consists of links to other sites, often with brief comments. (His frequent use of "heh," "indeed," and "read the whole thing" have been widely imitated and often parodied by other bloggers.) Reynolds encourages readers to explore the wider blogosphere and to fully read articles and posts to which he links. In 2005, Reynolds has at times added original video reports, shot documentary-style, to the site. He covered the 2005 [[BlogNashville]] convention using personally-shot video.


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, 2009|Iranian Presidential election]].<ref>{{cite news|publisher=[[The Politico]]|author=Ben Smith|author-link=Ben Smith (journalist)|url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0609/The_right_divides_on_Iran.html|title=The right divides on Iran|date=June 16, 2009}}</ref> 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."{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}
Beginning in January 2006, Reynolds began to host [[podcasts]] [http://instapundit.com/archives/cat_podcasts.php] from Instapundit, with his wife [[Helen Smith (psychologist)|Helen Smith]] (who hosts discussion of the podcasts on her blog, "[http://www.drhelen.blogspot.com/ Dr. Helen]"). Reynolds aggressively promotes the idea that bloggers, using now widely available tools such as digital audio and video, will eventually force more established news media to adapt a more agile approach to providing information [http://instapundit.com/archives/020159.php].


==Influence on other bloggers==
Because of its popularity, an Instapundit link to another site can cause the [[web traffic|traffic]] of that site to spike. Such an increase is often referred to as an [http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary_archives/002000.html "instalanche"], a [[portmanteau]] for "[[Web traffic#Sudden popularity|Instapundit avalanche]]". (See the [[Slashdot effect]] for a similar phenomenon.)
Sometimes referred to as "the Blogfather,<ref name=welch /><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 0-19-518928-0| last = Sunstein| first = Cass R.| title = Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge| location = Oxford etc.| date = 2006|page=181}}</ref> and credited with an "ethic of driving traffic to new blogs from all over the political spectrum,"<ref name=welch>{{Cite journal|issn=0010-194X |volume=42 |issue=3 |last=Welch |first=Matt |title=Blogworld: The New Amateur Journalists Weigh In |journal=Columbia Journalism Review |access-date=2016-08-04 |date=September 2003 |url=http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/5/blog-welch.asp |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031206082652/http://www.cjr.org/issues/2003/5/blog-welch.asp |archive-date=2003-12-06 }}</ref> 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 rock|punk]] and [[new wave music|new-wave music]], and his adaptation of the participatory ethos of these musical styles to online publishing.<ref>{{Cite news|volume=10 |issue=9 |last=Driscoll |first=Edward B. |title=Atlas Mugged: How a Gang of Scrappy, Individual Bloggers Broke the Stranglehold of the Mainstream Media |work=The New Individualist |access-date=2016-08-02 |date=September 2007 |url=http://objectivistcenter.org/ct-1966-Atlas_mugged.aspx |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011194908/http://objectivistcenter.org/ct-1966-Atlas_mugged.aspx |archive-date=2007-10-11 }}</ref>


In April 2002, Reynolds published a list of well over two hundred blogs that claimed to be directly inspired by his own.<ref name="seipp">{{Cite journal|last=Seipp |first=Catherine |title=Online Uprising |journal=American Journalism Review |access-date=2016-07-30 |date=June 2002 |url=http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=2555 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020802080037/http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=2555 |archive-date=2002-08-02 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Reynolds |first=Glenn |title=Okay, at long last! |work=Instapundit |access-date=2016-08-02 |date=2002-04-07 |url=http://www.instapundit.com/oldarchives/2002_04_07_instapundit_archive.html |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040622044642/http://www.instapundit.com/oldarchives/2002_04_07_instapundit_archive.html#75141135 |archive-date=2004-06-22 }}</ref>
==Political stances==
Reynolds has stated on his blog that he is a [[libertarian]] [http://instapundit.com/archives/028701.php], specifically a [[libertarian transhumanism|libertarian transhumanist]] [http://instapundit.com/archives/028725.php]. He tends to favor [[free market]]s and to distrust bureaucratic action in both [[economics|economic]] and personal affairs. He supports [[Gun policy|gun rights]]. The [[European Union]], [[United Nations]], and [[Media bias|"Big Media"]] are all frequent targets of negative remarks or links. Reynolds frequently criticises [[United States Democratic Party|Democrats]], especially concerning foreign policy, while both praising and criticising [[United States Republican Party|Republicans]]. He strongly supports Democrat positions such as [[embryonic stem cell research]] and [[abortion rights]], and supports [[civil union]]s. He has written: [http://instapundit.com/archives/018220.php]
:Personally, I'd be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons.


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.<!-- NOTE: It was agreed at the talk page to restrict this list to blogs with Wikipedia articles. This keeps the list short, and is simple and fair. Anyone adding [[WP:REDLINK]]s or external links will have to justify them on the talk page or be reverted. --> There are many other "-pundit" blogs, of all political stripes inspired to some degree by Instapundit.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wolfe |first=Jeffrey A. |title=InstaPundit Inspired Blogs |work=JeffWolfe.com |access-date=2016-07-31 |date=2003-10-24 |url=http://jeffwolfe.com/instapundit-inspired.html |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040626081716/http://jeffwolfe.com/instapundit-inspired.html |archive-date=2004-06-26 }}</ref>
Reynolds often blogs in support of [[Porkbusters]], which he helped create. He has vigorously criticized politicians from both parties for [[pork barrel]]ling and [[Earmark#Earmarks_in_US_spending_legislation|earmarking]].


== See also ==
==Criticism and controversy==
* [[Caio Blinder]]
Some critics argue that the site has become increasingly partisan, in particular that it expansively defends the [[Iraq War|war in Iraq]] and minimizes negative developments there.{{fact}} Libertarians who oppose the war in Iraq often argue that he is drifting away from libertarianism.{{fact}}


==References==
Reynold's critics claim that his tendency to link to other blog posts with terse comments is an underhanded way to promote controversial positions without visibly endorsing them. [[James Wolcott]], who depicts as Reynolds as (among other epithets) "Instadunce"[http://www.jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/06/glenn_reynolds.php] and a "publicity-whory"[http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2006/06/hard_fascism_so.php] "rube"[http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/06/glenn_reynolds.php], alleges[http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/06/are_roger_l_sim.php] that Reynolds promoted violence by treating[http://instapundit.com/archives/023870.php] a blog post[http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/expectations_exceeded/] by [[Tim Blair]]. ''Think Progress'', a website funded by the [[Center for American Progress]], tried to instigate[http://thinkprogress.org/2005/08/22/instapundit-new-low/] a mass-email campaign against Reynolds in retaliation for a post[http://instapundit.com/archives/025044.php] in which, they claim, he "continues to smear [[Jamie Gorelick]]". [[Glenn Greenwald]] has written that[http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/fact-free-instapundit-inflicts-more.html] "Reynolds' need to parade around as the moderate, reasonable libertarian - always promoting and applauding the grossest extremism while staying safe enough distance away from it to give plausible deniability - is inherently deceitful to its core", and that[http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/07/journalists-its-time-for-some-articles.html] Reynolds is a leading member of a "highly authoritarian movement which seeks to vest unlimited and unrestrained power in their Leader, views garden-variety political dissent as blasphemy and treason, and glorifies violence as a justifiable tool to achieve their glorious political ends."
{{Reflist}}

Reynolds was for a time often called "Instacracker"[http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/03/we-will-be-included.html] [http://maxspeak.org/gm/archives/00000373.html] [http://www.armedliberal.com/archives/000192.html] by some bloggers. [[Brian Leiter]] calls him "tediously reactionary" [http://webapp.utexas.edu/blogs/archives/bleiter/000402.html] and "Glenn 'no bit of right-wing sliminess is beneath me' Reynolds" [http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2005/08/glenn_reynolds__1.html].

==Blogs inspired by Instapundit==

Note: Instapundit's fame has led to the common adoption of the suffix "-pundit" in blog titles. Some sites are sympathetic to Instapundit, and others oppose the blog.

*[[Allahpundit]]
*[[Kevin Drum|CalPundit]]
*[http://www.newdave.com/ DaPundit]
*[http://www.desipundit.com/ DesiPundit]
*[http://www.insta-pundit.com/ Insta-Pundit] (parody site)
*[http://www.itsapundit.com Itsapundit] (parody site)
*[http://www.instapunk.com Instapunk]

*[[IsraPundit]]
*[http://www.polipundit.com Polipundit]
*[http://www.publiuspundit.com Publius Pundit]
*[http://jcb.pentex-net.com/ Part-Time Pundit]
*[http://www.instapunk.com Instapunk]


==External links==
==External links==
* {{Official website}}
* [http://www.instapundit.com/ Instapundit]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=3FovS6jJPcoC&dq=instapundit&pg=PA21 Instapundit in 'Blogging America: Political Discourse in a Digital Nation By Barbara O'Brien]
* [http://jeffwolfe.com/instapundit-inspired.html blogs inspired by Instapundit]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=2LW1-5E7jsQC&dq=instapundit&pg=PA181 Instapundit in Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge By Cass R. Sunstein]
* {{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Russ |title=Glenn Reynolds on Politics, the Constitution, and Technology|url=http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/glenn_reynolds/ |work=[[EconTalk]] |publisher=[[Library of Economics and Liberty]] |author-link=Russ Roberts |date=February 18, 2013}}


[[Category:2001 establishments]]
[[Category:American political blogs]]
[[Category:Libertarian weblogs]]
[[Category:Milblogs]]
[[Category:Warblogs]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 2001]]

Latest revision as of 13:11, 5 November 2024

Instapundit
Type of site
warblog[1][2][3]
Created byGlenn Reynolds
URLpjmedia.com/instapundit
LaunchedAugust 2001; 23 years ago (2001-08)

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

History and characteristics

[edit]

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."[citation needed]

Influence on other bloggers

[edit]

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]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  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. ^ a b c 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. Archived from the original on 2018-06-17. 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. ^ a b 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)
[edit]