For the record Arianna Huffington, blogger, media person of the year
Name: Arianna Huffington
Age: 57
Born: Athens, Greece
Lives: Los Angeles
Family: Daughters Christina and Isabella
Background: M.A. in economics from Cambridge University; author of books on Picasso and Maria Callas; TV commentator; columnist; former candidate for governor of California
In the news: As founder of the Internet news phenomenon Huffington Post
INTERVIEW. Arianna Huffington may arguably be the most influential woman in American media.
Greek-born, she runs the Huffington Post Web site, which covers politics, lifestyle and gossip, and has just been named I Want Media’s Person of the Year.
Since its launch in 2005, the site has become America’s biggest news phenomenon. In September, it had 4.5 million visitors, a 472 percent increase from September 2007. The site’s columnists range from politicians to celebrities like Alec Baldwin and Mia Farrow.
Huffington’s latest book, “Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe” has just been published in the U.S.
How do you convince so many famous people to blog for HuffPost?
It doesn’t take as much convincing as it did when we first launched. People understand now that it’s a very good way express their thoughts and opinions. They realize that what they write will be read and picked up by the mainstream media. They also have control over their message. Nobody reads press releases any more — if you want to say something, you blog about it.
News, not views, has long been the central pillar of journalism. Has that changed? HuffPost often doesn’t pretend to be neutral.
We [at the Huffington Post] offer both news and views. The success of HuffPost is, of course, partly the result of new technology, but also of traditional papers losing credibility. They always present two sides of an issue as if they are equal. Sometimes it’s not like that.
Will HuffPost and other blog sites lead to the decline of traditional newspapers?
Not necessarily. More and more people get their news online, but they also read newspapers for other information. A lot of papers are also moving their content online. You have to, now that people expect to get news around the clock.
HuffPost added celebrity and lifestyle reporting about a year ago. What are your future plans for the site?
We now have a green section and international reporting. We don’t have foreign correspondents; instead we primarily aggregate foreign news.
Do you have any plans to get involved in Greek politics?
No. I love Greece and feel completely Greek, but my home is America.