Instapundit

Instapundit is a U.S. political weblog produced by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee. It is one of the most widely-read blogs in the world. The blog, started in August 2001, began as an experiment and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law. Because of his wide-ranging authority and influence in the blogosphere, Reynolds is sometimes called the BlogFather.

Related Topics:
U.S. - Political - Weblog - Glenn Reynolds - University of Tennessee

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Instapundit is sometimes considered a War Blog (or "warblog") because of its frequent sympathetic coverage of America's War on Terrorism and war in Iraq. 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.

Related Topics:
War Blog - America - War on Terrorism - War in Iraq - Technology - Nanotechnology - Space exploration - Digital photography - Blogosphere

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Most of the content consists of links to other sites, often with brief comments. Reynolds encourages readers to explore the wider blogosphere and to read in full articles and posts that he links to. In 2005, Reynolds has at times added original video reports, shot documentary-style, to the site. He covered the recent BlogNashville using personally-shot video. Reynolds has promoted the idea of bloggers as local indy reporters using the now widely available tools such as digital audio and video.

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He has stated on his blog that he is a libertarian and thus often displays a libertarian slant which tends to favor free markets and to distrust bureaucratic action in both economic and personal affairs. The European Union, United Nations, and "Big Media" are all frequent targets of negative remarks or links. Critics charge that the site has become increasingly partisan, with only positive developments in Iraq being linked to while negative developments are ignored, and with a general tendency to provide positive coverage of Republicans and negative coverage of Democrats, although Reynolds supports such Democrat platforms as civil unions, abortion rights, and stem cell research. Critics also suggest that Reynolds shows signs of blogosphere triumphalism.

Related Topics:
Libertarian - Free market - Economic - European Union - United Nations - "Big Media" - Republicans - Democrats - Civil union - Abortion rights - Stem cell research - Triumphalism

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Because of its popularity, an Instapundit link to another site can cause the traffic of that site to spike. Such an increase is often referred to as an "instalanche", an Instapundit avalanche. (See the Slashdot effect for a similar phenomenon.)

Related Topics:
Traffic - Instapundit avalanche - Slashdot effect

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