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Biting the Hand that Feeds

Biting the Hand that Feeds. Weblogs and Second-Level Agenda Setting Bryan Murley and Chris Roberts University of South Carolina. Do you know this woman?. Harriet Miers, George Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, is the latest to experience the heat of the blogosphere. Agenda Setting.

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Biting the Hand that Feeds

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  1. Biting the Hand that Feeds Weblogs and Second-Level Agenda Setting Bryan Murley and Chris Roberts University of South Carolina

  2. Do you know this woman? • Harriet Miers, George Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, is the latest to experience the heat of the blogosphere

  3. Agenda Setting • McCombs and Shaw (1972) • 400 studies related to agenda-setting • New Criticism • McCombs (2004): Media still set the agenda, even with the Internet

  4. Weblogs

  5. Definition • A web page with minimal to no external editing, providing on-line commentary, periodically updated and presented in reverse chronological order, with hyperlinks to other online sources. Blogs can function as personal diaries, technical advice columns, sports chat, celebrity gossip, political commentary, or all of the above. (Drezner, 2004)

  6. Blog Stories • Trent Lott (2002) • Iraq War (2003) • Rathergate (2004) • Presidential Election (2004)

  7. Research Questions • RQ 1. Do bloggers act as another level of gatekeepers by linking to material from traditional news media? • RQ 2. How much original reporting do bloggers provide? • RQ 3. How often do bloggers link to media stories to critique content? • RQ 4. How often do bloggers link to media stories to critique the media source? • RQ 5. Do bloggers follow agenda-setting priorities of traditional media outlets?

  8. Methodology • Content Analysis of top 20 weblogs’ material for MWF of April 11-15, 2005. • Coded: • Type of post • Source • Secondary sources • News or opinion

  9. Truth Laid Bear • Provides ratings of weblogs according to traffic rankings.

  10. Findings • Nearly half (n=344, 49 percent) of the 706 posts included at least one link to a mainstream media source. • For political blogs, 56 percent of the 495 blog entries include a link to a mainstream media source. • Many blog topics matched MSM topics.

  11. Findings • 13 percent of posts were critical of MSM. • 72 percent of MSM links were to news stories. • Just 6 percent of blog entries featured original reporting.

  12. Research Questions • RQ 1. Do bloggers act as another level of gatekeepers by linking to material from traditional news media? • Yes. • RQ 2. How much original reporting do bloggers provide? • Very Little • RQ 3. How often do bloggers link to media stories to critique content? • RQ 4. How often do bloggers link to media stories to critique the media source? • RQ 5. Do bloggers follow agenda-setting priorities of traditional media outlets? • Yes.

  13. Discussion • Blogs act as second-level agenda setters. • Possibility of primary agenda-setting when blogs focus on criticism of MSM. • Reliance on MSM for fodder limits agenda-setting ability of blogs.

  14. Future Research • How does a blog obtain the credibility status of “mainstream media” and set a primary agenda? Or is that conferred by mainstream media? • Wider pool of weblogs and blog readers to gauge agenda setting capacity.

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