Instapundit
American blog launched in 2001
title: "Instapundit" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-political-blogs", "milblogs", "internet-properties-established-in-2001"] description: "American blog launched in 2001" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instapundit" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American blog launched in 2001 ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox website"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Instapundit |
| logo | Instapundit logo.png |
| url | |
| type | warblog |
| author | Glenn Reynolds |
| launch_date | |
| :: |
| name = Instapundit | logo = Instapundit logo.png | logocaption = | screenshot = | collapsible = | collapsetext = | caption = | url = | commercial = | type = warblog | registration = | language = | num_users = | content_license = | owner = | author = Glenn Reynolds | launch_date = | alexa = | revenue = | current_status = | footnotes =
Instapundit is a conservative blog maintained by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee.
History and characteristics
InstaPundit was launched in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law. After the September 11 attacks, the site quickly became a highly popular blog – with Reynolds celebrated as "chief among the warbloggers" – and was dubbed the "Grand Central Station of Bloggerville" in 2002 and reported to be "the most visited [blog] in the world" in early 2004. A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Reynolds as one of the five "best-read national conservative bloggers."
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. 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.
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. 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."
Influence on other bloggers
Sometimes referred to as "the Blogfather, and credited with an "ethic of driving traffic to new blogs from all over the political spectrum," 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.
In April 2002, Reynolds published a list of well over two hundred blogs that claimed to be directly inspired by his own.
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.
References
References
- Sullivan, Andrew. (2002-02-24). "A Blogger Manifesto: Why online weblogs are one future for journalism". The Daily Dish.
- Gallagher, David F.. (2002-06-10). "A Rift Among Bloggers". [[The New York Times]].
- (2014-02-03). "Answer This: Instapundit's Reynolds".
- (November 18, 2014). "Irrepressible Contrarian". University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
- Reynolds, Glenn. (August 10, 2001). "So far so good for Bush". InstaPundit.
- O'Brien, Barbara. (2004). "Blogging America: Political Discourse in a Digital Nation". Franklin, Beedle & Associates.
- Seipp, Catherine. (June 2002). "Online Uprising". American Journalism Review.
- Boutin, Paul. (February 2004). "The Blogfather's hit list".
- Brown, Carrie Budoff. (2007-06-13). "GOP issues rules to avoid Macaca moments".
- (2006-03-09). "Outreach and outrage". Economist.com.
- Welch, Matt. (2006-04-01). "Farewell to Warblogging". Reason.
- Ben Smith. (June 16, 2009). "The right divides on Iran". [[Politico]].
- Sunstein, Cass R.. (2006). "Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge". Oxford University Press.
- Welch, Matt. (September 2003). "Blogworld: The New Amateur Journalists Weigh In". Columbia Journalism Review.
- Driscoll, Edward B.. (September 2007). "Atlas Mugged: How a Gang of Scrappy, Individual Bloggers Broke the Stranglehold of the Mainstream Media". The New Individualist.
- Reynolds, Glenn. (2002-04-07). "Okay, at long last!". Instapundit.
- Wolfe, Jeffrey A.. (2003-10-24). "InstaPundit Inspired Blogs". JeffWolfe.com.
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