If cable programs itself as if viewers are going to watch relatively passively and take in what the cable teams have to offer, bloggers treat their audience as equal partners in the information exchange. There is a sense that the audience has already been a part of the ongoing dialogue, that they know the background of each topic or issue and that they will click through several layers of links to make a complete picture. That may make it a bit difficult or intimidating to join in. Once in, however, participants are part of an inner circle, a family, or clan. Indeed, one of the most prominent features of the blogs we studied was that they refer continually to one another, and treat their readers as if they were bloggers too.
Of all the blog postings for the day, most — a full third — were spurred by another blogger’s post. In other words, those doing the posting saw something on another blog that they then commented on and linked to on their own blogs. Bloggers looked to their comrades more than to actual events (21%) and twice as often as to mainstream press accounts (15%).
Trigger of Blog Posts
|
Event |
21% |
|
Press Account |
15 |
|
Journalist statement |
6 |
|
Newsmaker statement |
7 |
|
Other blogger post |
33 |
|
Published report |
5 |
|
No even/statement |
5 |
|
Don’t Know |
8 |
| Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding | |
Instapundit was particularly prone to such posts. Fully 15 of its 25 that day stemmed from another blog, including links to:
Sometimes the practice comes full circle, in a way reminiscent of the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where the stream of links always comes back to him. On Crooks and Liars that day, for instance, one post was about comments that the comedian John Stewart made on his show the night before about blogs (something several other blogs posted about as well). The post links to the Stewart video, blogger Ed Cone’s post on the matter and a related post on BuzzMachine.com that links back to the video link on Crooks and Liars.
Level of Original Reportage
We found little of what would be considered journalistic reporting done by these bloggers, as in examining public documents, conducting interviews, or acting as a direct witness to events. In more than three quarters of all the posts (79%, 88 posts) the highest level of reporting offered was a commentary from the blogger. Just 5% (5 posts in all) involved some original research.
The highest level of reporting we found on May 11 actually came from a reader’s post rather than the main author of the blog. The Daily Kos carried a post from DavidNYC, who that morning went to the Capitol to talk with the Princeton students who were “filibustering” Frist. DavidNYC then blogged about it when he got back. In a little bit of reporting himself, Kos contacted the Columbia Journalism School professor Steve Ross, asking him to remove a question on a survey that suggested that bloggers supporting Howard Dean’s presidential candidacy in 2004 were paid to support him. Ross, according to Kos, refused.
Similarly, in a post on the Iraq car bombs, Crooks and Liars said it e-mailed the New York Times columnist John Tierney (whose op-ed had urged journalists not to give so much space to such incidents) “to ask him if it was okay to report on today’s suicide bombers.” We would have to take his word that he did e-mail the writer, but either way no response was on the blog by the end of the day.
Highest Level of Reporting in Posts
|
Personal Experience |
5% |
|
Interview |
1 |
|
Original Research |
5 |
|
Comments/compilations |
79 |
|
Round-up of posts |
12 |
| Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding. | |