More news from where?Reviewing blogging's contributionto the mediasphere

IR11Göteborg, Sweden, 21 October 2010

Tim HighfieldQueensland University of Technologyt.highfield@qut.edu.autimhighfield.net @timhighfield

In this project, looking specifically atpolitical blogsnews / current events blogseconomics, law...

different foci, approaches, roles withinlarger groups of blogs, including

analystslink bloggerspsephologists

original reporters or commentators?

'informing' as main function of bloggers(McKenna & Pole)

Bloggers and journalists

early examples of blogs' political influence/breaking news (especially U.S.)

complementary relationship? (Singer)

readership for blogs might be low, but mediaeditors/advisors keep track of blogosphere/Twitter 'buzz'

gatewatching (Bruns)blogs act as watchdogsanalysing, collecting, commentingon, responding to mainstream mediaoutput

blogs acting as (part of a) fifth estate?

Second tier media?

Gans (1980)

'central (or first-tier) media would becomplemented by a second tier … [who]would devote themselves primarilyto reanalyzing and reinterpreting newsgathered by the central media - and thewire services - for their audiences, addingtheir own commentary and backing theseup with as much original reporting...as would be financially feasible'

Criticism

reliance on other resources for content

Keen (2007):blogs as unreliable sources, spreadinggossip and rumour

'much of the real news [blogs] contain has been lifted from (or aggregated from) the very news organizations they aim to replace'

blogosphere as echo chamber?

How blogs use media content

in general, blogs link to mainstream media contentmore than to other blogs (Kenix 2009)?

source of informationcritiquing contentlink to other parts of page (e.g. comment threads)

topical variations and references

Research project

Study of French and Australianpolitical blogospheres (Jan-Aug 2009)

content of blog posts from sample of blogs(and other sites) collected by Lars Kirchhoff andThomas Nicolai, Sociomantic Labs (Berlin)

text and links extracted from posts

whole period and event-specific studiesusing text and hyperlink analysis

January – August 2009

Most referenced sites:Most links from

French blogsMost l inks fromAustralian blogs

dailymotion.com/ [2702] theaustralian.com.au/ [735]

fr.wikipedia.org/ [1199] theage.com.au/ [697]

lemonde.fr/ [989] smh.com.au/ [665]

tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/ [803] en.wikipedia.org/ [538]

lefigaro.fr/ [752] guardian.co.uk/ [448]

liberation.fr/ [672] abc.net.au/ [423]

rue89.com/ [605] nytimes.com/ [394]

lexpress.fr/ [427] youtube.com/ [301]

google.com/hostednews/afp/ [362] abc.net.au/news/ [287]

marianne2.fr/ [348] haaretz.com/ [241]

lepoint.fr/ [344] flickr.com/ [216]

fr.news.yahoo.com/ [331] news.com.au/ [206]

lepost.fr/ [270] heraldsun.com.au/ [201]

20minutes.fr/ [267] news.com.au/couriermail/ [184]

sarkofrance.blogspot.com/ [256] news.bbc.co.uk/ [184]

Inauguration16-25 January 2009French blogs:

mainstream media coverage most widely-cited, some international media, fewer alternative media

discuss inauguration but also GFC, Gaza, retrospectives, Sarkozy, the Obama campaign

Most in-links Most out-links Most postslemonde.fr/ [17] lemammouth.over-blog.com/ [97] ilovepolitics.info/ [23]

fr.wikipedia.org/ [15] ilovepolitics.info/ [34] extremecentre.org/ [16]

liberation.fr/ [13] extremecentre.org/ [29] lemammouth.over-blog.com/ [9]

tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/ [12] politique.blomig.com [29] blog.mendes-france.com/ [6]

fr.news.yahoo.com/ [12] cafecroissant.fr [23] politique.fluctuat.net/ [4]

lefigaro.fr/ [11] nuesblog.com [21] profencampagne.com/ [4]

dailymotion.com/ [10] sarkofrance.blogspot.com [19] sarkofrance.blogspot.com/ [4]

youtube.com/ [9] lalettredejaures.over-blog.com [15] yanndarc.com/ [3]

lexpress.fr/ [9] sarkobasta.over-blog.com/ [9]

google.com/hostednews/afp/ [8]

InaugurationAustralian blogs:

US and UK mainstream media most referencedinauguration as framing for discussion of economic response to GFC, policy and strategy (environment, technology, Guantanamo Bay), or analyse Obama's speech itself

Most in-links Most out-links Most postsen.wikipedia.org/ [9] crikey.com.au/ [118] crikey.com.au/ [35]

youtube.com/ [8] blogs.crikey.com.au/crikey/ [21] mushroomandrooster.net/ [9]

guardian.co.uk/ [7] tamaleaver.net/ [18] antonyloewenstein.com/ [6]

nytimes.com/ [6] larvatusprodeo.net/ [17] lyndahawryluk.livejournal.com/ [6]

salon.com/ [5] mushroomandrooster.net/ [14] onlineopinion.com.au/ [6]

smh.com.au/ [4] blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/ [13] blogs.crikey.com.au/contentmakers/ [5]

washingtonpost.com/ [4] economics.com.au/ [13] larvatusprodeo.net/ [4]

huffingtonpost.com/ [4] lyndahawryluk.livejournal.com/ [12] abc.net.au/unleashed/ [4]

telegraph.co.uk/ [4] onlineopinion.com.au/ [11] blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/ [3]

whitehouse.gov/ [4] machinegunkeyboard.com/ [10] machinegunkeyboard.com/ [3]

time.com/ [4]

HADOPIJanuary – August 2009Referencing MSM but also sites relevant to the news, debate, campaign surrounding HADOPI

pol blogs as political voices, not just commenting on news/informing but politically involved.Spikes around votes, net blackout

Most in-links Most out-links Most postsfr.wikipedia.org/ [84] lemammouth.over-blog.com/ [248] lescahiers.over-blog.com/ [54]

rue89.com/ [55] eco.rue89.com/ [90] eco.rue89.com/ [39]

numerama.com/ [49] irenedelse.com/ [87] rue89.com/ [23]

laquadrature.net/ [49] rue89.com/ [67] irenedelse.com/ [23]

lemonde.fr/ [46] lescahiers.over-blog.com/ [46] lemammouth.over-blog.com/ [23]

dailymotion.com/ [45] sarkofrance.blogspot.com/ [40] torapamavoa.blogspot.com/ [21]

pcinpact.com/ [37] blogs.lexpress.fr/nouvelleformule/ [39] jegpol.blogspot.com/ [17]

liberation.fr/ [33] rimbusblog.blogspot.com/ [34] nuesblog.com/ [15]

tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/ [32] sarkobasta.over-blog.com/ [20] lalettredejaures.over-blog.com/ [14]

ecrans.fr/ [29] lalettredejaures.over-blog.com/ [19] sarkobasta.over-blog.com/ [13]

rimbusblog.blogspot.com/ [13]

UtegateJune – August 2009Most cited sites all Australian mainstream media (or offshoot sites)High numbers of links to MSM but low post totals reflect a greater watchdog role – bloggers not wanting to cover the ‘scandal’ but commenting on the media’s coverage

Most in-links Most out-links Most postssmh.com.au/ [28] crikey.com.au/ [186] crikey.com.au/ [46]

theaustralian.news.com.au/ [26] larvatusprodeo.net/ [31] petermartin.blogspot.com/ [9]

theage.com.au/ [20] petermartin.blogspot.com/ [14] larvatusprodeo.net/ [9]

news.com.au/dailytelegraph/ [16] catallaxyfiles.com/ [6] alp.org.au/ [8]

thepunch.com.au/ [11] antonyloewenstein.com/ [4] blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/ [4]

news.com.au/couriermail/ [9] blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/ [3] onlineopinion.com.au/ [3]

news.com.au/heraldsun/ [9] tedalog.blogspot.com/ [2] blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/ [3]

abc.net.au/news/ [9] blogs.crikey.com.au/bartlett/ [2] catallaxyfiles.com/ [2]

abc.net.au/ [9] duncanriley.com/ [2]

blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/malcolmfarr/ [8]

Australian mainstream mediaand blogs

two primary examples of blogs critiquing aspects ofmainstream media content and media reaction

July 2007interpretation of Newspoll figures by political blogs criticised by an editorial in the Australian:

'On almost every issue it is difficult not to conclude that most of the electronic offerings that feed off the work of The Australian to create their own content are a waste of time. They contribute only defamatory comments and politically coloured analysis.'

#grog(s)gateJuly – October 2010

Grog's Gamut – grogsgamut.blogspot.compublishes a post critical of media election coverageand journalists' questioning of policy(30 July 2010)

Some Twitter debate, comments, posts follow,including contributions and retweets from journalists

#grog(s)gate

7 August 2010James Massola (The Australian) writeson the debate started around the post- although not the post content itself:

'Such a public conversation aboutjournalism was unimaginable five years ago.If for no other reason, the incidentdemonstrated why Twitter, and blogs, matter.'

#grog(s)gate

3 September 2010Mark Scott (ABC) references Grog’s blog postin speech about election coverage

'The contributions of bloggers - the constantfeedback and commentary of thousands through the #ausvotes stream on Twitter – werewatched and considered by every mainstreammedia editor. And we could see - the impactmade by some bloggers was every bit as greatas that made by other mainstream professional journalists'

#grog(s)gate

27 September 2010Massola 'outs' Grog as Greg Jericho,a Canberra public servant

defends decision as in the public interest

Aftermath:questions around ethics of unmasking

(right to) anonymity /pseudonymity online?blogs and accountability

Mainstream media's relationship with blogs, TwitterThe Australian headline:

'Blogosphere and Twitter no more than an echo chamber'

#grog(s)gate

Geoff Elliott(The Australian media editor)

'If you are a public servant and bloggingand tweeting, sometimes airing a partisanpolitical line, do you deserve anonymity? No.

...if you are influencing the public debate,particularly as a public servant, it is thepublic's right to know who you are. It isthe media's duty to report it.'

Conclusion

Political blogs still link heavily to mainstream media content, although variations around events

However, linking not necessarily repeating the work of the mainstream media, but also building on it, disagreeing, correcting

Bloggers carrying out particular roles or functions based on interests/groups

e.g. specialist blogs - able to provide more information, analysis than traditional media, focus on different perspectives

functions could fit Gans’ second tier concept

#grog(s)gate suggests some mainstream media unsureof blogging's place in mediasphere?