Blogs, A Day in the Life

Along with the inside-the-family ethos of the blogs we examined comes a certain lingo and nomenclature that only those familiar with the blogs may understand. It can be confusing or even intimidating for a newcomer. Daily Kos , for example, ends one of his posts with “Cheers and Jeers sips tea in There’s Moreville. . . [Swoosh!] RIGHT NOW! [Gong!!]”

Senator Bill Frist is referred to as “Kitten Killer Frist,” Rep. Tom Delay as a (R-Sugardaddy). And Little Green Footballs ends most posts with a “(hat tip)” to the blog or person that provided information.

It’s Us vs. Them, Sort of

Some critics have argued that the blogosphere mostly involves bloggers reacting to what they have read in the mainstream press, and that rather than offering an alternative to the so-called “MSM” (mainstream media), they are entirely dependent on it. The Day in the Life suggests that the charge may be overstated, though not entirely wrong; the relationship may be more complex than that. Most original posts on this day were triggered by a fellow blogger (33%) or from specific events (21%). Just 15% came from the more mainstream press accounts and 6% from statements made by journalists. But if one follows the trail of links deep enough, it can often lead to some original sourcing from a news outlet — but not always. It is a mix that also varied among the particular blogs that day.

Whether bloggers need the MSM or not, they do often seem to harbor a certain animosity toward the old media. In most posts that refer to a journalist or a news outlet — liberal or conservative — the blogger is far from a defender.

Daily Kos bashed the Wall Street Journal story that suggested that bloggers for Howard Dean were paid to promote him. (It also then bashed the Columbia Journalism School’s survey question that suggested the same thing.)

The conservative blog Instapundit linked to TaxProf’s assertion that the New York Times ran a misleading chart on marginal tax rates. And in a link to RawStory’s account of the U.N. nominee John Bolton’s divorce records, the liberal blog Eschaton wrote: “Maybe this will interest the media? Oh, never mind, no Democrats involved.”

At the same time, these bloggers often ended up linking back to an account in the mainstream press. Sometimes it was the second or third link in the stream and many times the use was not acknowledged. But the pattern does suggest that much of the original material does stem from mainstream reporting.

Let’s Hear From Me

One consistent element across the blogs was their personal style. Readers learned about those things that the author or authors found significant, or at least interesting. And the vast majority of the time, the personal element included the blogger’s own views. Of all the posts that had some commentary from the blogger (as opposed to just a link to other work with nothing more than the slightest contextual language added) the vast majority — 78% — included the blogger’s view.

And on each blog, there were at least twice as many posts with opinions as without.

Blogger Opinion in Post Narratives