political weblogs: a comparative analysis between...
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Political Weblogs: A comparative analysis between established media and independent political blogging
A study submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the
degree of Master of Arts in Librarianship
at
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
by
PAUL THORPE
September 2007
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Abstract
The blogosphere has expanded exponentially in recent years and changing
the way we communicate online. New blogging software has facilitated this
boom and made weblogs the easiest way of generating online content. This
has empowered the average person to become a web author and share their
thoughts, opinions and stories to a mass audience.
This phenomenon has impacted greatly on traditional news providers, as they
face a challenge to their primacy as gatekeeper of news, from the citizens
they once served. This form of journalism and commentary is often a
refreshing alternative to those disenchanted with the failing of professional
news providers.
In response, online newspapers have attempted to utilise the benefits of
weblogs to reengage with their audience. Weblogs are now a common feature
on the online editions of established newspapers.
Much has been written on the comparisons between independent weblogs
and the news media as a whole. However, this study contrasts independent
written ‘citizen’ weblogs and those authored by professional journalists
associated with an established newspaper, an angle that has so far been
largely ignored.
The research will investigate three weblogs from each category and use
content analysis to devise a suitable coding structure with which to examine
each blog. The study looks at type of blog post, their stylistic features, the use
of hyperlinks and sources to which they connect, and their tone of writing.
The research finds similarities and differences in the two sets of weblogs. To
an extent the freedoms permitted by weblogs gives each their own unique
style, this is illustrated in the diversity of word length and frequency of pictures,
videos and hyperlinks. However, the investigation revealed that independent
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blogs are more opinionated and tend to draw on a broader range of sources,
including those which are not typically used in traditional journalism.
The dissertation concludes that while these trends remain accurate,
independent bloggers will maintain a niche in the sphere of political
commentary and continue to challenge the ideas as well as the primacy of
established professional journalism.
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Contents
Abstract
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background to the Study
1.1.1 Weblogs
1.1.2 New Technology
1.1.3 Uses of Weblogs
1.1.4 Political Weblogs
1.1.5 Rationale for the Project
1.2 Aims and Objectives
1.3 Structure of Report
Chapter 2 Literature review
2.1 Conducting the Literature Review
2.2 Journalism and Politics
2.3 Online Journalism
2.4 Political Weblogs
2.5 Credibility
2.6 Citizen Journalism
2.6.1 Introduction
2.6.2 Impact on the traditional media
2.6.3 Agenda Setting
2.7 Weblogs in the Established Media
Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Methodological approach
3.2 Content Analysis
3.2.1 Definition
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3.2.2 Process of Content Analysis
3.2.3 Uses of Content Analysis
3.2.4 Advantages
3.3 Selecting Sample Texts
3.3.1 Condition 1
3.3.2 Condition 2
3.3.3 Condition 3
3.3.4 Condition 4
3.3.5 Condition 5
3.3.6 Condition 6
3.4 Weblogs for Analysis
3.4.1 Guido Fawkes
3.4.2 Harry’s Place
3.4.3 Tim Worstall
3.4.4 Guardian
3.4.5 Daily Mail
3.4.6 Telegraph
3.5 Time Frame
3.6 Coding
3.6.1 Section 1
3.6.2 Section 2
3.6.3 Section 3
3.6.4 Section 4
Chapter 4 Results
4.1 Evaluation
4.1.1 Section 1
4.1.2 Section 2
4.1.3 Section 3
4.1.4 Section 4
4.2 Tables
4.2.1 Table 1
4.2.2 Table 2
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4.2.3 Table 3
4.2.4 Table 4
Chapter 5 Discussion of Results 5.1 Section 1
5.2 Section 2
5.3 Section 3
5.4 Section 4
Chapter 6 Conclusion 6.1 Conclusion
6.2 Recommendations for further study
Bibliography Appendices Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Background to the study
Weblogs
Weblogs, or blogs as they are more commonly known, have emerged as a
modern phenomenon in social media and are continuing to revolutionise the
way we communicate information, establish networks and build relationships.
At the time writing, Technorati, a leading blogging search engine is currently
tracking around 93.4 million weblogs with thousands more being created
every day (Technorati, 2007). A weblog is a website on which information is
logged with postings being presented in reverse chronological order. Blogs
may incorporate text, video and audio files as well as hyperlinks to other
websites and weblogs that support its purpose.
The combination of an unrestricted and interactive format and the limitless
possibility for anyone to blog on any subject, gives weblogs the impression of
being personal, honest, unrestrained and democratic. Through web linking
bloggers can develop communities of interest around a specific subject as
well as providing depth of content. This interconnected blogging universe is
generally referred to as the ‘blogosphere’. Weblogs also typically contain a
facility that allows readers to post comments under each entry. This creates
interaction between author and reader and encourages feedback, debate,
criticism and accountability. Furthermore, the journal format and self archiving
facility that is built into the majority of weblogs, allows readers to easily
examine the history or context of a particular story or debate.
1.1.2 New Technology
In 1998 weblogs had made little impact on the World Wide Web with only a
handful in existence. However, owing to the spread of broadband, increased
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awareness and particularly the growth and development of blogging software
their numbers have increased exponentially. Software such as Blogger and
WordPress has created templates that are easy to modify and eliminate the
need for web design or HTML skills. Crucially this software is free or at least
very inexpensive. Furthermore, bloggers do not need to obtain free space with
a server in order to create a weblog, as this is provided. Consequently,
producing a weblog has become the easiest way of generating online content,
and updating information no more difficult than sending an e-mail. As Pedley
(2005) argues ‘it is precisely because of blog software has simplified the
whole process of publishing online that weblogs have become an international
phenomenon’.
Uses of weblogs
Within the blogosphere there exists great diversity amongst the purpose, style
and motive of each weblog. Often weblogs are merely used to record trivial
events in the form of a personal diary. Xu Jinglei, a Chinese actress, currently
writes a blog about her pet cats, favourite television programs and general
everyday musings. Having initially started the blog to pass time, Xu Jinglei is
now considered the world most-read blogger with the boasting over 100
million hits everyday (Macartney and Yu, 2007). Of course, personal weblogs
do not usually attract this level of readership and are often written for the
authors’ pleasure rather than to appeal to an audience. Nevertheless, the
case of Xu Jinglei highlights the underlying attraction of weblogs as individual
and endearing, and also shows the potential to reach a vast online population
in this way. As Pack (2004) emphasises, blogs ‘have the ability to engender a
reader’s trust because the forms encourage readers to assume that the
authors are speaking forthrightly and are not motivated by commercial
concerns’.
With this in mind, various groups throughout society are exploiting the benefits
of weblogs to communicate information. In the business sector, blogs are
used as a way of increasing brand awareness or promoting a product. The car
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manufacturer General Motors is one of the foremost exponents of weblogs in
business. It uses blogs to encourage debate over the quality and design of its
vehicles, provide news and opinion, and present the views of its employees
(General Motors, 2007). The intended effect is to bring the company closer to
its employees and customers, or at least appear to do so.
Likewise amongst politicians, blogs are used as a means to humanise their
image amongst the electorate. This is particularly evident in the United States
in the run up to election in 2008. For example, Barack Obama and his team
use a blog to report the progress of his campaign trail, raise issues of
importance and bring together other bloggers than support his candidacy
(Barack Obama, 2007). Similar tactics are evident amongst the other leading
candidates.
Also within education, weblogs may be used as a tool to improve collaboration,
learning and a sense of community within an institution. Warwick University
currently maintains a vast directory of blogs written by its students and
teaching staff. Typical blogs postings may refer to class assignments,
announcements, interesting or relevant stories in the news or general
discussions about non-academic subjects (Warwick, 2007).
Political weblogs
This study will focus on weblogs in the media and specifically the sphere of
political commentary. Independent writers are able to challenge the primacy of
the traditional media establishment and present their own views through the
medium of weblogs. The citizen journalist is afforded unlimited freedom to
write posts of any length, format or opinion, which would not be feasible
amongst professional journalists. Readers also prefer independent political
weblogs as their freedom of expression, unashamed bias and anti-
establishment ethos make them a refreshing alternative. As Pack (2004)
points out ‘[the] frankness of blogs, their immediacy, and their intimacy – the
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fact that people are writing directly to you without the help (interference?) of
publishers and editors – is what makes blogs appealing to so many readers’.
Rationale for the project
The online editions of major newspapers have responded by creating their
own weblogs which allow greater journalistic freedom. Taken at face value
these blogs are similar to that of independent bloggers. Yet, does the
association with an established media brand mean a censorship on some
level. Are established news and commentary provider’s part of the system
blogging seeks to transcend? Or do their blogs in fact fulfil a different purpose?
This project is based on the desire to learn more about the burgeoning area of
political weblogs by comparing the style and content of established media and
independent political weblogs, and placing it in the wider context of the
relationship between citizen journalism and the media.
There is a wealth of information and research in this area, however much of it
is examines the relationship between weblogs and established media as a
whole, and largely ignores the comparison between equivalent weblogs on
either side. Furthermore, much of the work in is US-centric, were political
blogging has evolved further than in Britain and bloggers operate in a different
political and media environment.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this project is to contrast the style and content of two distinct
groups of political weblogs, those which are independently written and those
associated with an established online newspaper. The results will increase
our understanding of each category of weblog and there similarities and
differences as sources of political commentary.
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Considering the aim of this project the research objectives can be defined as
follows:
1. To explore the relationship between citizen journalism and the
traditional media.
2. To discover through content analysis the type and style of posts made
on both categories of weblog.
3. To compare the information sources on which the content of each
weblog is based.
4. To analyse the results and highlight any differences in style or content
that exists between both sets of weblog.
5. To place the findings in the context of the relationship between citizen
journalism and traditional media.
Structure of the report
The dissertation is divided into six chapters. Following on from the
introduction, Chapter 2 will take the form of a literature review that will discuss
the themes that surround this subject.
Chapter 3 will introduce the weblogs for analysis and the methodology used
for examining them. It will include a brief introduction to content analysis, the
process behind selecting sample texts and time frame, and justifications for
the coding structure used to classify the weblog content. The limitations of this
approach will also be considered.
Chapter 4 will present the results of the study in four separate parts, the type
of blog posts, the stylistic features of each weblog, the hyperlink destinations
and the tone of each blog post.
Chapter 5 will discuss the results in more detail and synthesise the outcomes
with the themes raised in the literature review.
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Chapter 6 will offer the final conclusions and end with recommendations for
further study.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
Conducting the literature search
As Pickard (2007) explains ‘a literature review is a critical discussion of all
significant publicly available literature that contributes to the understanding of
the subject’. Conducting a literature review will provide a contextual basis on
which to base my own research and allow me to explore the relevant themes
that surround the subjects of political weblogs and citizen journalism.
The literature review was conducted using a variety of information resources.
The provide a sound general understanding of the subject I first consulted
Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) simply using keywords such
as ‘weblog’ or ‘blog’, politic* and media. Once I had gauged the available
content, I was able refine my list further with the addition of further keywords
such as ‘citizen’, ‘journalis*’, ‘comment*’. It was also important given the pace
at which the blogosphere is developing, to try and limit my search to the last
five years.
As citizen journalism and blogging impact on the media, I chose to search
newspaper archives, using Lexis and NewsBank for relevant stories and
opinion. This proved to be a fruitful strategy and the source of much
information. Search engines such as Google were also important in scanning
the World Wide Web for appropriate literature. I also discovered further
material by analysing the bibliographies of other research into weblogs and
using search engines and online databases to locate relevant articles. The
University library catalogue and reading lists were also important.
Journalism and Politics
In recent years there has been a growing debate surrounding the relationship
between journalism and politics, as tension has grown between those who
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govern the country and those who report their actions to us in the media
(Schlesinger, 2006). Journalists criticise the current dominance of spin
doctors, the management of political and news agenda, off the record leaks,
refusal of politicians to answer question and the centralisation of power
behind the prime minister. Similarly, politicians disapprove of the media’s
trivialisation of politics, its focus on personality rather than policy and its
preoccupation with conflict amongst politicians and events in their personal
life. The cumulative effect has encouraged a disenchantment of the public
with both politics and the mainstream media.
This is manifest in a number of ways. Perhaps most striking is the public
disengagement from the political process. In 2001, the turnout was the lowest
since 1918, and only recovered slightly in 2005. Furthermore, viewing figures
for election night coverage fell from 12 million in 1992 to 5 million in 2001
(Schlesinger, 2006). Journalism has also suffered as readership has fallen
and newspapers struggle to attract the younger reader. The breakdown in
relationship between politicians and journalists, and the decline of quality
reporting has increased the perception that newspapers are no longer reliable
with a mere 25 percent believing what the read (Schlesinger, 2006).
Online News
Perhaps the greatest challenge to print media has been the emergence and
subsequent growth of the Internet, revolutionising the way we digest our daily
news. Recent years have witnessed a surge in the volume of information
available online and this is being made available to a massively expanding
Internet population. As a consequence, traditional information providers are
being forced to re-evalute their roles in this new information society (Gunter,
2003). News providers must now meet the public expectation for free,
immediate news that can be accessed 24 hours a day from any location.
.
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Political Commentary
Political commentary has witnessed similar changes. Weblogs are
extensively used to provide an alternative interpretation of current events from
those advocated by the editors and pundits in mainstream media. In his article
for the Guardian, Burkeman (2005) provides an interesting survey of the
current landscape of independent political bloggers, which he dubs ‘the new
commentariat’. One of Britain’s leading political blog writers, Perry de
Havilland, describes his role as follows:
‘I’ll tell you who we are in competition with, 100% direct competition, and that's your
op-ed writers. We don't have a reporter in Kandahar, and you might, it's true -
although in time we might have a blogger in Kandahar. But for the moment, sure: if
your guy in Kandahar says X blew up Y, then X blew up Y. But when your editorial
guy says, 'This is what it means,' that's when we say, 'Excuse me! You're completely
wrong!'” (Perry de Havilland quoted by Burkeman, 2005)
Credibility
Johnson and Kay (2004) provide an interesting insight in to credibility
perceptions of weblogs in comparison with established media. They conclude
that two-thirds of users believe weblogs to be a credible source of information,
while only 3.5% believe they are not at all credible. There also seems to be a
perception that weblogs are more biased and that often readers are seeking
evidence to justify their own views. They go on to report that ‘users view blogs
as a new and better form of journalism than the mainstream media, one that is
opinionated, analytical, independent and personal’ (Johnson and Kaye, 2004).
The authors do concede that readers tend to view a weblog as more credible
if they are accustomed to reading it, ‘the personal, opinionated writing style
that attracts blog uses may put off some newcomers used to the more
balanced, disinterested writing style of traditional media’.
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Citizen Journalism
Introduction Established media providers have traditionally held a monopoly on the
provision of news. To quote the famous American journalist A J Liebling,
‘freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one’ (What Quote,
2007). Yet in contemporary society the proliferation of the World Wide Web
combined with the development of simple online publishing has democratised
the media and altered the relationship between news providers and the
readers. Unlike in Liebling’s time, the profession of journalism now finds itself
at a point were it is no longer the gatekeeper of news.
Willis and Bowman (2003) have written a comprehensive guide to modern
citizen journalism in the report ‘We Media’. They develop the concept of what
they term ‘participatory journalism’ which the define as ‘the act of a citizen, or
group of citizens, playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting,
analysing and disseminating news and information. The intent of this
participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide ranging and
relevant information that a democracy requires’.
Citizen journalism can take many forms, often utilising social media.
Examples may include weblogs, message boards, online communities and
forums, podcasts and photo and video sharing sites such as Flickr and
YouTube. Perhaps one of the best and most publisised examples is the
Korean news site “OhmyNews” which combines articles from over 26,000
citizen reporters on diverse topics ranging from birthday celebrations to
political events. The site is recognized as helping elect the current president
Roh Moo-hyun who acknowledged the contribution by granting his first post
election interview to the site (Blood, 2003).
Their unique format and accessibility make weblogs a popular vehicle for
citizen journalism. Unlike traditional journalists an average citizen is not bound
by the constraints of the editorial process. Bloggers are not concerned by
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pacifying editors, offending sponsors or damaging the relationship with their
readers or source providers. Posts can be made at any time, any length on
any subject. Furthermore, they may also benefit from being at the scene of
the event and thus have an authenticity to their testimony that may be absent
in traditional journalism.
This phenomenon has manifest with the occurrence of natural disasters or
terrorist attacks in which eye-witnesses have published their account directly
on the Internet bypassing traditional channels. Indeed, as Good (2006) points
out ‘citizen journalism came to prominence in the aftermath of 9/11 as
eyewitness accounts and survival stories, complete with photographs, began
appearing on blogs and the Internet’.
Hence, the online tools of citizen journalism are empowering the average
person to become a journalist and share their opinions, observations and
testimonies. Professional journalists are increasingly competing with their
audience they once served.
Impact on the traditional media
There is ongoing debate surrounding the impact of weblogs and citizen
journalism on established media providers, and indeed whether it should be
called ‘journalism’ at all. Journalist and blogger, Rebecca Blood (2003)
believes that ‘the vast majority of bloggers will continue to have a very
different mandate from journalists’. She argues that amateur reporting through
weblogs should not be described as journalism but rather as ‘participatory
media’ highlighting and framing news reported by journalists. The author
points out that weblogs do not adhere to the standards of good journalistic
practice of assembling ‘a fair, accurate and complete story that can be
understood by a general audience’ (Blood, 2003). The author concedes that
the journalistic merits of a first hand personal account depends on the abilities
of the writer and context of the story, however she argues that simply linking
to a news story and offering an opinion should be seen as research not
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journalism. Interestingly, she contends that when bloggers do report the news
‘the form is incidental to the practice’ (Blood, 2003). Due to weblogs
accessibility they have become the default choice for amateur writers, yet this
need not be the case, and new forms of personal publishing could provide
alternatives in the future.
Wilby (2006) echoes the sentiments of this article and questions whether
blogging will prove to be a passing fad. The author himself is uncertain,
however argues that the frequently poor quality of the journalism and lack of
authority will undermine the blogging community. Furthermore, he points out
that independent blogging is essentially a parasitic medium, which is an
observation that is echoed by sections of the blogging community themselves
(Burkeman, 2005). He goes on to say:
‘the vast majority of bloggers have never contributed an original thought, never mind
an original story. They mistake strong opinions for interesting opinions. Many
disregard punctuation and spelling, and have no idea how to structure an argument.
Most adopt a derisive attitude towards the mainstream media, while feeding off its
ideas and news breaks’ (Burkeman, 2005)
Despite this, there exists considerable opinion that blogging exerts a positive
influence over traditional media. This is manifest in a variety of ways. Lasica
(2003) sees the relationship between weblogs and established media as
symbiotic. The author argues that weblogs cannot be viewed in isolation but
rather as part of a new media ecosystem. The author argue the in such
communities
‘bloggers discuss, dissect and extend the stories created by mainstream media.
These communities also produce participatory journalism, grassroots reporting,
annotative reporting, commentary and fact checking, which mainstream media can
feed upon, developing them as a pool of tips, sources and story ideas’ (Lasica, 2003).
Since the large scale introduction of the World Wide Web and more recently
with the development of simple online publishing tools such as weblogs, many
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have had predicted that the Internet would take away chunks of readers from
established news providers (Regan, 2003). This has not materialised yet but
may in the future as the Internet and its capabilities evolve. Citizen journalists
and eye witnesses have the potential to undermine news agencies by
breaking a story first or offering an account, which by their position in society
or in relation to an event, have greater authenticity. Regan (2003) highlights
the example of the elderly man that drove into a farmers market in Santa
Monica killing 10 people and injuring many others. The press had responded
quickly however, the incident had already been reported by local office worker
Andy Baio, through his personal weblog. Baio had reported his own personal
account of the events and enriched the post with a map of the area and links
to further coverage, including photos and film, as it appeared. Furthermore,
Baio was able to offer his perspective as over the following days the scene of
the accident returned to normality. Adding further layers to the story, feedback
and comments by Baio’s readers discussed a range of topics from the
response to the accident, anger towards the driver and regulation of elderly
drivers. At present however, this form of citizen journalism through weblogs
does not so much threaten established media as help offer a richer and more
varied picture of a particular story. This is especially beneficial to people living
in smaller communities were one newspaper or news broadcast may
dominate. In such cases an individual may find further information on a story
through weblogs, perhaps written from an assortment of perspectives or
political viewpoints (Regan, 2003).
Weblogs are also credited by many as helping to improve journalistic
standards. Andrews (2003) believes that established media often covered
irrelevant stories or printed inferior content. Andrews (2003) quotes the
American published Elbert Hubbard as saying ‘editors separate the wheat
from the chaff – and then prints the chaff’. Since the advent of weblogs,
bloggers have targeted their comments and links towards the ‘wheat’ and in
doing so has encouraged the media to improve its sourcing and coverage.
More directly there are instances were weblogs have served to reveal the
inaccuracies of traditional media providers. During the height of the 2004
American presidential election, media giant CBS released the ‘Killian
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Documents’ apparently proving that George Bush had dodged the Vietnam
draft (Rogers, 2005). Yet the blogging community was quick to question the
authenticity of the documents and after investigation revealed them to be a
fraud. The incident was a damning indictment of CBS as a reliable news
provider and ultimately led to the resignations of four journalists.
Agenda Setting There is some evidence to suggest that citizen journalism may develop further
and become a force that sets the agenda for public and media discussion.
Bernard Cohen quoted by Delwiche (2005) once said that ‘the press may not
be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is strongly
successful in telling its readers what to think about’. However, recent events
suggest this role may be reversing, or at least being modified. Perhaps the
most publicised example is the case of Senator Trent Lott. During a public
event Lott voiced his support for former Senator Throm Sturmond who had
campaigned for racial segregation in the 1940’s. As Regan (2003) points out
‘the traditional media seemed to decide his comments weren’t newsworthy. Without
blogs and the Internet it is likely that would have ended the story. But bloggers did
not share that news judgement and so they kept pounding on his remarks as
insensitive, if not outright racist’.
The effect was to bring the story into the public limelight, ultimately forcing
Lott to resign. Delwiche (2005) has looked at the issue of agenda setting and
weblogs in closer detail. The study compared the news that weblogs linked to
with the stories favoured by the traditional media. The author concludes that
rather than focusing on the issues at the foreground of established media
providers, bloggers instead set their own alternative agenda within the
blogosphere. At the time of writing bloggers appeared to be more concerned
with issues such as invasion of civil liberties, they drew attention to the
collapse in the relationship between the US and Europe and devoted a
significant amount of time to the Iraq war, typically highlighting anti war stories
or opinion. Indeed, Delwiche (2005) ventures that ‘It is possible that trends in
the blogosphere were an early indicator of eroding support for the war in Iraq’.
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Weblogs in the established media
In contrast to the spirit of liberty that characterises independently written
political and news weblogs, traditional journalism and commentary can appear
aloof and undemocratic. This perception has contributed to a feeling of
disillusionment with established news providers. A poll in 2003 by the Pew
Research Center reported that 62 percent of readers believed that news
organisations try to cover up mistakes rather than admit to them (Grabowicz,
2003).
In response, many established newspapers are increasingly utilising weblogs
on their online editions as a means of reengaging with their audience.
Weblogs offer traditional journalists the opportunity to enhance readers trust.
The inherent format of weblogs encourages accountability and enables
readers to respond to inaccuracies of information or differences of opinion.
Paul Poniewozik the Time magazine journalist is quoted by Lasica (2003),
‘journalists think trust equals accuracy. But it is about so much more: passion,
genuineness, integrity’. Allowing open dialogue through a weblog can instil
trust between the professional journalist and their readers.
Weblogs are also a significant tool in re-personalising established journalism.
Independent bloggers have the advantage of being able to write material on
any subject, emphasising their personalities and opinions. Yet such an
approach does not usually sit well in the confines of traditional media. Hence
through blogging journalist can present themselves as ordinary people with
strengths and weakness. As Lasica (2003) explains,
‘blogs could show that newspapers aren’t monolithic corporations but a collaborative
team of individuals with varying viewpoints and have more in common with their
readers than they could possibly know from reading their print articles alone’
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Despite the theoretical benefits, some editors find it difficult to reconcile the
journalistic independence granted by weblogs with the need to safeguard the
interests and integrity of the wider news organisation. Furthermore, the style
may contradict a journalist’s obligation to unbiased and dispassionate
reporting. Once such instance occurred at the Hartford Courant, a leading
newspaper in Connecticut (Toolan, 2003). Journalist Denis Horgan had
established a weblog and used it as a platform to express his opinions on a
variety of subjects ranging from the decision to invade Iraq to the plight of the
Boston Red Sox. However, editor Brain Toolan felt the weblog unacceptable
believing that readers would not differentiate between the views of Horgan
and that of the Hartford Courant. Toolan (2003) explains ‘if Horgan wrote a
column about the unfitness of John Rowland to be Connecticut’s governor,
some people - including the governor, surely – could imagine that mindset
prevails in the Courant’s newroom. That strikes at the credibility of the
newspaper’. Naturally, his decision provoked outrage amongst Horgan’s
readers and the blogging community as a whole, who considered it a breach
of the right to free speech. Toolan’s main objection seems to be that Horgans
blog was outside the realm of editorial control, but as he concludes
‘is a weblog truly a weblog, if it is supervised editorially? If the answer is no and that
anything but complete freedom is a perversion of the genre, then I think editors must
ask themselves if they are comfortable having their news organisation represented in
that way. I wouldn’t be’ (Toolan, 2003).
While the incident at the Hartford Courant is perhaps an extreme case, it does
raise questions over the actual degree of freedom a professional journalist
has when writing a weblog, particularly one that is closely associated with an
online newspaper. Does the journalists association with a recognisable brand
mean, or at least imply, a censorship on some level? Are journalists
implicated in the system that blogging seeks to transcend?
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Chapter 3: Methodology
Methological Approach
Reviewing the literature provided a survey of weblogs and their use in the
media for providing political commentary. It described how weblogs have
emerged as the foremost tool in the development of citizen journalism and are
influencing the relationship between news providers and consumers. The
review also drew attention to the increasing use of weblogs in the traditional
media, particularly those associated with the online additions of established
newspapers. However, the majority of research and debate compares
independent political blogging with the established media as a whole and
ignores a comparison with the weblogs created by professional journalists to
perform a similar function. Furthermore, studies into the political blogosphere
largely concentrate on weblogs in the US. Using content analysis of weblog
posts, this dissertation will attempt to provide a greater understanding of this
area and shed further light on the relationship between citizen journalism and
the media.
‘The blogosphere can be described as ‘post-centric’ in that it is these posts to
which others respond, add, reject or reference’ (Reese et al, 2007). This study
will take the individual post as the basic unit of analysis and use coding to
categorise each post in terms of it content. Each weblog will be analysed over
a fixed time frame. Weblogs are naturally suited to this form of content
analysis as individual posts are easily distinguishable and are labelled with
date, time, author and title. In addition, weblogs present each unit of text in
reverse chronological order and contain archives that can be simply searched,
making it easy to define a suitable time period.
As the literature review raised no firm theory which to test, this research will
take an inductive approach. The process of induction is a ‘bottom up’
approach that seeks to provide insights and draw conclusions after the data
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has been collected, or to ‘establish a theory based on observed phenomena’
(Gorman & Clayton, 2005). Induction is also refered to the ‘theory comes last’
approach, were the researcher develops theories and suppositions out of the
data, ‘in a process which is commonly seen as moving from the particular to
the general’ (Mason, 2002).
Content Analysis
Definition
The definition of content analysis has evolved over time to reflect the
developing techniques and uses of the discipline. In his latest textbook on
content analysis Krippendorf (2004) attempts to provide a revised description
that encompasses the full breadth of the subject, ‘Content analysis is a
research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or
other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use’.
From this definition we can draw the fundamental principles of content
analysis. Firstly, Krippendorf acknowledges the diversity of material that can
provide the basis of a content analysis. Traditionally, text or transcribed
conversations were considered the only forms of data suitable for this
discipline. However, the phrase ‘meaningful matter’ is intended to encompass
new forms such as art, images, maps, sounds, sign and symbols that can also
provide the foundation for this type of research (Krippendorf, 2004). Each of
these medium is a way of communicating information. Given that
communication is central to human interaction by examining communicative
media, content analysis allows the researcher to make inferences regarding
the motives of the sender, the message itself or its intended audience. The
word ‘valid’ is used to stress that results produced by content analysis should
withstand careful scrutiny and the conclusions made, be upheld in the face of
other independent evidence. The use of ‘replicable’ in Krippendorf’s definition
also emphasises the techniques used must be clearly stated and applied
equally to all units of analysis. In this way, a separate investigator could
25
measure the same units, with the same standards and produce the same
results.
Process of Content Analysis
This research will examine the text found on political weblogs. The central
idea in this form of content analysis is that many words of text be classified
into fewer content categories (Weber, 1990). For this to be possible, it is
necessary to select the appropriate sample of texts and define the categories
used to measure them.
Firstly, the researcher must select the data for analysis. Data are the starting
point of any analytical study. They represent the given, in that the researcher
is in no doubt as to what they are. The majority of content analysis, including
this study, start with texts that have not been created with the purpose of
answering a research question. Instead, they are intended to be read and
interpreted by people other than content analysts.
When a reader views a text they decompose what they read into significant
structures and units, rearticulate their meaning and act on them accordingly
(Krippendorf, 2004). This interpretation is likely to vary between individuals.
Moreover, a researchers understanding may vary from the average reader.
With this in mind, it is important that no single person has sole responsibility
for selecting the data for analysis. If this is the case, then it is increasingly
probable that documents are selected to prove a preconception and hence
invalidate the results. Alternatively, in research such as this were it is not
possible to employ multiple investigators, it is necessary to define and justify a
set of parameters against which the data can be selected (Weber, 1990).
There are a series of distinct methods for drawing sample texts from a larger
population. An investigator may for example take texts at random, however if
theory suggested that texts vary between the location in which they are found,
it may be necessary to ensure that the sample includes an equal number from
26
each subpopulation. This process is known as stratified sampling. Operating a
stratified sample ensures that the final group of texts is truly representative of
the wider group of texts. In the diverse environment of the political
blogosphere it is necessary to use stratified sampling to incorporate blogs
written, for example, from contrasting political perspectives, time periods,
authors and popularity.
When the sample has been assembled, a coding structure needs to be
devised. Weber (1990) sets out a programme for creating and testing a
coding scheme. Firstly, the recording unit needs to be set. Again, there are a
range of possibilities from a precise word, to a sentence or theme, through to
an entire text. Naturally, if the recording unit is more specific there is greater
chance of producing reliable results.
Secondly, the investigator must define a set of categories. In doings so the
researcher must confront the decision whether make the categories mutually
exclusive or alternatively allow one piece of data to be placed in multiple
categories. The later approach is often better suited for some content analysis,
however permitting multiple categorisation within the context of the same
statistical analysis may lead to dubious and inconclusive results. In this study,
it was decided to avoid multiple classifications and instead evaluate texts in
the framework of separate research questions. A further question surrounds
just how narrow or broad to make each category. This is a decision that can
only be made after a brief examination of the available texts. As the subject of
political weblogs is varied it is logical to make category definitions broad.
However, for some content analysis that focuses on specific subjects, it
makes more sense to subdivide classifications further in order to produce
precise results (Weber, 1990).
When a category structure is produced it is vital to test it on a small sample of
texts. This may prompt a revision of the prescribed structure should the text
not fit adequately into the initial boundaries. Deliberation must also be given to
the potential accuracy of the early outcomes (Weber, 1990).
27
When performing a content analysis it is advisable that the researcher
acknowledges the research aims that inferences from the text are supposed
to satisfy. It is occasionally advantageous to explore meanings that appear
when reading a text, and follow the threads of the inferences to wherever they
may lead. Indeed, some forms of content analysis, such as ethnographic and
interpretive studies, actually benefit from this approach (Krippendorf, 2004).
Nevertheless, when content analysis is motivated by research questions it
provides the study with an empirical grounding and ensures the investigator
proceeds efficiently with a defined purpose. As Krippendorf (2004) explains,
‘formulating research questions so that answers could be validated in principle
protects content analysts from getting lost in mere abstractions or self-serving
categorisations’. By drawing up research questions the content analyst
implies a set of possible answers of which they can select one after
examination of the results. In the realm of political weblogs, the vast
possibilities and unknowns, necessitate the content analyst to single out the
area’s on which they will focus. Hence, this research will proceed from the
starting point of a research framework.
Uses of Content Analysis
The systematic reading of texts, images and symbolic matter has a long
history, originating, according to Krippendorf (2004) in the 17th Century. Since
then the discipline has matured from a tool of theological study to cover a
diverse range of subjects and is now considered the mainstay of
communication research. Neuendorf (2002) highlights the recent growth in
popularity of content analysis.
The boom in newspaper production during the early 20th Century and the
development of journalistic profession, lead to an increasing desire to
formulate ethical standards and create methods of examining newspaper
content. In response, the methods of quantitative content analysis grew much
during this period. It was utilised to measure column inches devoted to
28
particular subjects or the frequency of certain words, and provided journalists
with irrefutable figures that could be used to sustain the arguments
surrounding their profession (Krippendorf, 2004).
As the century progressed the uses of content analysis and its conceptual
boundaries grew. Content analysis was used to scrutinise political
propaganda that emerged from the World Wars and the Cold War, it was
employed as a method of analysis in social science to study historical
documents, political symbols and psychological and personality
characteristics. The field of content analysis also began to acknowledge its
qualitative dimension, with the emerging focus on discourse, rhetoric,
ethnographic and conversation analysis (Krippendorf, 2004).
Now in the digital age, content analysis is often performed using a computer
with new software and search engines creating limitless possibilities. The
increasing amount of new electronic data being produced and historical data
being converted to electronic format has enabled larger samples of
documents to be processed and to a degree reduced the possibility of human
error.
Advantages
Content analysis has a number of advantages over other forms of research.
Firstly, it is an unobtrusive method of gathering data as usually neither the
message sender nor receiver is aware that that they are being analysed. In
the case of this research, the authors of each weblog are oblivious to the
examination of their work (Weber,1990). Consequently, their writing is not
affected by the study and the results can be relied on to reflect the true
essence of the weblog. Moreover, the investigation approaches each weblog
from the perspective of a typical reader by reading, observing and digesting
its content. In this context the results have greater relevance as they permit
conclusions on the style and content of the information absorbed by the wider
29
readership. If data was collected, for example, through interviewing or
distributing questionnaires amongst authors or readers, then act of
measurement itself may directly or indirectly distort the results.
Secondly, the best content analysis combines both qualitative and quantitative
operations, thus combing two supposedly conflicting methods of research
(Weber, 1990).
Selecting sample texts
Although some content analysis projects use an entire population of
documents, in most cases this is not feasible. Obviously, as this study
proposes to analyse the content of weblogs it is necessary to take a small
sample, which will be closely representative of the blogosphere as a whole.
Hence, to ensure a successful outcome to a content analysis, consideration
must be given to the sample texts that are selected for examination.
With this in mind the following criteria were devised when selecting the
weblogs for analysis.
Condition 1: Each weblog should focus on politics.
While this may at first seem an obvious prerequisite, meeting this requirement
is perhaps not so straightforward. The central difficulty occurs when selecting
weblogs with differing coverage and remit, for direct comparison. Of course,
the purpose of this study is to contrast the style and content of established
and independent political weblogs, however to make this an effective
comparison the weblogs need to have a common ground. In the established
media, weblogs are typically listed under distinct subject headings, such as
‘Politics’. This makes it easy to pigeonhole a weblog and satisfy the above
condition. However, occasionally political news and commentary will be
grouped with other diverse subjects. Some weblogs may also be exclusive to
a single journalist and cover a number of topics. As the literature review
30
emphasised, the medium of weblogs allows the writer greater freedom to write
on the subjects that interest them. Similarly, independent bloggers need not
concern themselves with branding their blog or sticking too rigidly to a
prescribed label.
Ultimately, the blogs used for analysis should view their main task as focusing
on politics. Further consideration will be given to how this distinction was
made under the introductory paragraph on each of the selected weblogs.
Condition 2: Each weblog in the ‘Established’ category should be associated
with the online version of an established, well known online newspaper.
It is important when comparing ‘established’ and ‘independent’ weblogs that
the research defines which blogs can be placed under these classifications.
For the established group, it was decided that each blog should be associated
with an online edition of a recognised newspaper. This eliminates other
possible weblogs such as those connected with, for example, the BBC
website and ensures the consistency of the sample. Ultimately, the blogs
selected were all related to so-called ‘broadsheet’ newspapers. It was initially
hoped that a weblog from a tabloid newspaper could be included to give a
more representative picture of the traditional media. However, after
investigation it became evident that the blogs connected with tabloid
newspapers concentrated on gossip, fashion and sport rather than purely on
politics and hence they could not be reconciled with the first selection criteria.
Condition 3: Each weblog in the ‘Independent’ category should be popular.
The accessibility of blogging promotes great diversity in the motives and
popularity of the independent political weblogs. Many weblogs are established
to campaign on a specific issue others comment more generally on random
political events that interest the author. Others focus on other subjects entirely
and merely make passing references to political news. The sheer number of
31
weblogs means that the majority of weblogs only have a very small loyal
readership and perhaps are only visited when linked to by another weblog in
reference to a particular post. However, a small number of weblogs can
command a readership that would rival an established news provider, this is
especially true within the American blogosphere.
As a consequence, there is a difficultly in selecting a sample that will
accurately represent the collective blogging community. The limitations in size
and coverage of this study require an alternative approach. Instead it was
decided to concentrate on those independent weblogs with a well-known
reputation and a substantial readership. Moreover, like their counterparts in
the established media the weblogs focus on a broad range of political stories.
While the three weblogs chosen do not reflect the full variety of independent
political blogosphere, they do represent
Condition 4: Collectively, the weblogs should represent a cross section of
the political spectrum.
Political weblogs can generally be categorised in terms of their political
affiliation. Indeed, political bias is often more pronounced in weblogs the other
forms of media. As discussed in the literature review, the freedom afforded to
an individual when writing a weblog enables them to present their views
without the restraining influence of an editor. Furthermore, it is often the case
that weblogs are initially conceived with the purpose of supporting an ideology.
Independent weblogs are perhaps easiest to categorise as they often include
and introductory paragraph that explicitly identifies their beliefs. They may
also have a reputation of championing a particular philosophy. When judging
the political sympathies of a weblog, further information was taken from the
Burkeman (2005) article which featured interviews with notable independent
bloggers and labelled them accordingly.
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Weblogs found within the established media are slightly more ambiguous as
professional journalists are not so blatant in declaring their allegiance. Only a
closer inspection of their writing reveals their underlying sentiments.
Nevertheless, the decision to focus on weblogs attached to the online editions
of established newspapers enabled the blogs to be branded in accordance
with the affiliation of their parent newspaper. Each of the three newspapers
selected has a long standing reputation for supporting a particular political
viewpoint. Of course, caution should be exercised when associating an
individual journalist’s opinion with that of their employer. The varying view of
employees of a news organisation was highlighted in the literature review. Yet
a cursory inspection of the selected weblogs revealed the weblogs were
representative of a range of political perspectives.
Giving consideration to the politics of each weblog and taking a representative
sample in both categories, reduces the possible variables, guarantees a
consistent sample and makes certain that the results reflect a comparison
between established and independent blogging rather than between
conflicting political standpoints.
Condition 5: The weblogs should be frequently updated.
It was important to select frequently updated weblogs for a number of reasons.
Firstly, regular postings were needed to provide the raw data for analysis and
enable a more condensed time frame to be considered. Analysing a short
time frame within the blogosphere is not essential and doubtless a more
detailed study would likely examine weblogs over a greater period. However,
observing weblogs over a short period provides a snapshot of selected
weblogs at a point in time and reduces the risk that the authors approach to
the blog changes. Also within the realm of news and politics it is possible that
an event may arise which skews the results of the survey. Reese et al (2007),
research on mapping the blogosphere followed a similar rationale by
deliberately avoiding major news stories such as the CBS ‘memogate’
scandal which preoccupied American political bloggers in late 2004.
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Regular postings also imply the weblog is vibrant. Similarly, on the weblogs
that allowed feedback, observing a high number of reader comments
suggests that the blog is being widely read and its content is having the
desired effect of provoking debate. Much of the blogosphere lies dormant as
their authors no longer have the desire or time to continue updating them. It
may also be the case the initial purpose of the weblog is no longer relevant.
As a consequence, continually updated blogs represent the best examples of
the contemporary blogosphere at a particular point in time. Investigating these
weblogs therefore ensures the results will be pertinent and enables
worthwhile conclusions to be drawn.
Condition 6: The weblogs should all be UK based.
Weblogs can be accessed from anywhere in the world and consequently it
could be argued that they are essentially international. Yet, most political
blogs can be associated with a particular country by the location they are
written, the nationality of their authors and the issues on which they focus. In
terms of weblogs in the established media it is easier to make this distinction.
The blogs selected for this study are all affiliated to newspapers that circulate
in the UK.
Within the blogosphere there exist groups of weblogs that centre on a specific
genre or subject. Naturally, these blogging communities evolve differently,
exhibit varying characteristics, they appeal to different readers and respond to
the wider environment in which they are based. As Reese et al (2007) explain,
‘the irony of globalization is that while seeming to breed global uniformities it
also makes smaller cultural, political, and ethnic communities more viable’.
In order to guarantee an accurate comparison between the content and style
of established media and independent political weblogs, it is necessary to
eliminate other variables and hence only UK based weblogs were chosen.
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Weblogs for analysis Each weblog was located through basic searching on Google. Inspiration was
taken from prior knowledge of online media and material read in the literature
review, in particular Burkeman (2005). After compiling a short list, the
following weblogs were selected as the in accordance with the above criteria.
Using the blog search engine, Technorati, is was possible to discover the
relative popularity of the following weblogs, in terms of the number of inward
links to each site. Of course, this is merely one method to measure blog
popularity, average number of daily hits, would be another. However, within
online media the hyperlink is used extensively to provide depth of content and
on some levels acknowledges the quality or reputation of the source.
Independent
Guido Fawkes - http://www.order-order.com/ -
Technorati Ranking – 4,526
35
Guido Fawkes is the alter ego of right wing libertarian Paul Staines, named
after, in the words of its author ‘the only man to enter parliament with honest
intentions. The intention being to blow it up with gunpowder’ (Guido Fawkes,
2007). The weblog focuses on ‘plots, rumours and conspiracies’. It is
frequently described as a ‘political popbitch’ (Guardian Media Pages, 2007).
The blog is updated on a regular basis and usually posts around 2 – 5 stories
a day.
Harry’s Place - http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/ -
Technorati Ranking – 7,404
Harry’s Place is a collection of bloggers writing under various alias’s, foremost
of which is ‘David T’. The weblog is named after its founder ‘Harry Hatchet’
who has since left the site (Johnson, 2005). However, it continues to have a
loyal following of around 9,000 viewers per day (Burkeman, 2005). The
weblog has a distinctive design and the logo on the home page includes the
36
quote by George Orwell, ‘Liberty, if it means anything, is the right to tell
people what they don’t want to hear’.
Harry’s Place was started in the wake of the September 11 attacks in America,
as a means to help make sense of confusion and clash of ideologies
(Burkeman, 2005). Since then the weblog has grown and gained recognition
for tackling the difficult issues that surround post 9/11 politics and conflict in
the Middle East. It was Harry's Place that unveiled the fact that The Guardian
was employing Dilpazier Aslam, a member of the radical Islamic group Hizb'ut
Tahrir. Aslam resigned soon after (Caesar, 2006).
The site is known for its left wing stance, however it is often critical of Marxist
fringe groups on the far left.
Harry’s Place typically posts 3-5 articles every day.
Tim Worstall - http://timworstall.typepad.com/timworstall/
Technorati Rating – 5,037
37
Tim Worstall is one of Britain’s most popular and respected independent
bloggers. Worstall began blogging in 2004 and has since received high praise
for his writing, in particular the posts he made following the 7 July London
bombings, which have been archived by the UK Web Archiving Consortium.
During the tragedy, Worstalls blog became a focus point for the outpouring of
emotion and opinion in the blogosphere. One article published in The Times
shortly after the attack makes reference to Worstall’s blog, observing that
‘weblogs and message boards have fizzed with news and views, while on the
street people armed with camera phones captured some of the most dramatic
images of the attack. As one television executive commented, the “citizen
journalist” has truly come of age’ (Home News, 2005). Tim Worstall has also
published a book the same year entitled ‘2005 Blogged: Dispatches from the
Blogosphere’, which provided a summary of how the blogging community
covered the years events (Amazon, 2007).
Outside of blogging, Worstall works as a consultant and dealer in scandium
and other exotic metals. His professional gives him a specific interest and
understanding of economics, although Worstall writes on a diverse range of
38
current political topics. His political affiliation is difficult to determine and he
could be broadly categorised as a non-conformist, although his sympathies
probably lie right of centre. In an interview with fellow blogger Norman Geras,
when asked for his favourite piece of political wisdom he replied, ‘O’Rouke’s
advice at election time. All politicians are stupid, all politicians are thieves.
Always vote against the incumbent as it will take the new guy a few years to
learn how to steal your money and there might be a new election by the time
he does’ (Normblog, 2006).
Worstall typically posts around 8 – 15 articles a day, although many are short
in length, he is one of the most active independent bloggers.
Guardian – News Blog - http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/
Technorati Ranking – 2,717
The Guardian was established in 1821 and became a daily newspaper in
1855. Its liberal outlook is a legacy of its origins during the early nineteenth
century, as a paper to represent the interests of northern provincial towns and
39
campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws. The Guardians online version
‘Guardian Unlimited’ was launched in 1999 and by 2001 it had over 2.4 million
unique users, making it the most popular UK newspaper website at that time
(Guardian Unlimited, 2007).
Guardian Online makes extensive use of weblogs, covering the typical
subjects such as sport, arts and entertainment as well as its own unique
categories like ‘organ grinder’, focusing on media, and the ‘allotment blog’,
which concentrates on gardening. Notably, ‘politics’ is not listed as one of the
subject categories. Nevertheless, political comment does form a significant
part of the Guardian’s weblogs and is the dominant subject on both the ‘News’
blog and the ‘Comment is Free’ blog.
The blog typically posts between 2-4 articles a day.
Daily Mail – Benedict Brogan - http://broganblog.dailymail.co.uk/
Technorati Ranking – 40,624
40
The Daily Mail was founded in 1896, making it Britain’s oldest tabloid
newspaper. The Daily Mail is Britain’s second highest selling newspaper with
a circulation in excess of 2.4 million (Associated Newspapers, 2007). To a
degree, this is a reflection on its ability to capture the market in between the
other ‘red top’ tabloids and traditional broadsheets. The newspaper has a
reputation for espousing conservative views and is arguably the most
reactionary mainstream newspaper in Britain.
The Daily Mail makes far less use of weblogs on its online edition when
compared with, for example, the Guardian. Also in contrast to the Guardian
and Telegraph, each weblog is authored by one journalist. Consequently, the
weblogs take advantage of the specific knowledge of each journalist, and
emphasises their personality and authority in that particular area. The
foremost political on the site blog is written by the newspapers political editor
Benedict Brogan.
The blog typically posts between 1-3 articles a day.
Telegraph - http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/
41
The Daily Telegraph is an established British broadsheet newspaper, founded
in 1855. Its online edition, telegraph.co.uk, was created in 1994 and was the
first of its kind in the UK. Since then it has expanded its coverage and
received a number of accolades including ‘Best Daily Newspaper on the
World Wide Web’ in 2005 and ‘Most Innovative Technology of the Year’ in
2004, at the Newspaper Awards ceremony. The online edition of the
Telegraph has a significant section devoted to weblogs. The newspaper
amalgamates its blog posts on the ‘Blog Home’ page allowing the casual
reader to view the latest stories on a variety of subjects. Conveniently, the
website also allows the reader to focus on a particular subject by selecting
one of the heading across the top of the screen. Journalists and bloggers at
the Telegraph write on a diverse range of subjects from business to fashion,
however, significantly for this research the online newspaper includes a
section on politics. Naturally, this makes it easy to satisfy my first selection
criteria and locate the suitable posts for analysis. There are a number of
authors that contribute to the political weblog, however Daniel Hannan,
Jonathan Isaby and Brendan Carlin are the dominant contributors. Hannan is
a Daily Telegraph leader writer and a Conservative MEP, he also contributes
regularly for a number of continental newspapers. Hannan blogs on a range of
current political issues but given his role outside the Telegraph, has a specific
interest in the EU.
Isaby and Carlin blog collectively under the pseudonym ‘Little and Large’.
Jonathan Isaby is a journalist for the Telegraph and has worked around
Westminster for eight years, he is also the current deputy editor of ‘Spy’
column, the newspapers Conservative leaning political gossip column.
Brendan Carlin is a lobby correspondent.
The blog typically posts between 1-4 articles a day.
Time frame
42
After the sources have been identified for analysis, an investigator may
reduced the available data by examining which sections of text will provide the
most illuminating results (Weber, 1990). This process is necessary to avoid
evaluating irregular data and hence reaching biased or flawed conclusions. In
the case of this research this means defining the time frame parameters from
which blog postings can be extracted. As previously explained, a weblogs
inherent structure and self archiving, makes this task much easier.
After analysing possible time frame it was decided that the two week period of
Monday 2 July to Sunday 15 July would provide a sound basis for this
research. Following the rationale of Reese et al (2007), it necessary to check
that the selected time frame represented a typical two weeks in politics. This
may seem a difficult concept to quantify. However, at its most simple level it
required checking the blogosphere during the prescribed weeks to avoid
major stories that may encourage bloggers to change their usual style and
subject focus. The CBS ‘memogate’ incident or the July 7 London bombings,
for instance, are examples of major stories that have dramatic repercussions
within the blogosphere. Of course, it would be interesting to examine the
changes in weblogs during this time, however such a focus does not fit well in
the confines of this research.
On examination of the selected weblogs it was deemed that a two week
period would provide sufficient data to allow meaningful results to be
produced. Too short a time frame would increase the likelihood that selected
texts would not be representative of the weblog as a whole. Similarly, a longer
period would yield too much data to be analysed within the time restrictions of
this research. The quantity of sample texts taken from each weblog is as
follows:
• Harry’s Place – 53 posts
• Guido Fawkes – 39 posts
• Tim Worstall – 174 posts
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• Guardian – 33 posts
• Daily Mail – 21 posts
• Telegraph – 21 posts
The discrepancy of posts between each weblog is to be expected, however
presenting results in the form of a percentage allows direct comparisons to be
made.
As it is the intention of this research to provide a current snapshot of the
political blogosphere, the period 2 July 2007 – 15 July 2007 is suitably recent
to satisfy this mission. Selecting an earlier time frame increases the possibility
that the results are outdated and irrelevant.
Coding
The content analysis was divided into four parts each assessing a different
aspect of the weblog.
Section 1
The first analysis focussed on the type of posts found on each weblog.
Inspiration for this investigation was taken from the Reese et al (2007) article
that performed a similar evaluation of independent political weblogs in the US.
The recording unit was defined as the entire post, which was categorised
exclusively as either, a ‘General Comment’, ‘Analysis/Opinion’ or ‘Firsthand
Observation’. Weber (1990) reminds us that the larger the recording unit the
harder it is to ensure reliability, with this in mind, the following definitions were
used as a guide to reduce ambiguity when coding each text.
General Comment
A post providing a basic piece of information, whether written by the author or
linked to another site. The post should offer no perceivable opinion but will
44
rather draw the readers’ attention to a specific subject. It may also include
brief housekeeping comments.
Analysis/Opinion
This category includes posts that offer a distinct view of a given subject. It
also includes postings that attempt to dissect an issue and analyse opposing
arguments.
Firsthand Observation
This group includes posts that describe the authors’ personal observations of
an event. This form of blogging is particularly evident during major incidents,
such as a terrorist attack, but it may also include trivial daily events. This
category will indicate the prevalence of direct citizen journalism found on the
selected weblogs.
Research Question: Do the types of posts on independent weblogs differ from
those found on established media weblogs?
Section 2
The second content analysis examines the stylistic features of each weblog.
The medium of weblogs affords the author great freedoms in the style with
which they present information. This section of the research will ascertain
whether there is any notable difference in the frequency of hyperlinks, the use
of pictures or videos, or the length of a typical post, between independent and
established weblogs. This method of content analysis categorises a much
smaller and tangible recording unit, for example, a picture or a hyperlink. As a
consequence, it is easy to attain a high level of accuracy.
Again, due to the varying number of posts, the results of the picture, video
and hyperlink counts will be presented as a percentage. The word count will
be displayed as an average, as well as including the highest and lowest value,
which will be useful in determining the range in post length.
45
Research Question: Are there any perceived trends in the way established
and independent political weblogs use pictures, videos and hyperlinks?
Research Question: How does the blog post length vary between the
established and independent weblog groups?
Section 3
The third section specifically looks at the hyperlinks found on each weblog.
Political weblogs use hyperlinks to varying degrees to provide depth of
content, and to create online networks with other bloggers. In the field of
political commentary this is particularly significant as authors are often
reviewing a story or issue that has been covered by another journalist or
political pundit. By examining hyperlinks, it will be interesting to note any
differences between weblogs associated with the established media and
those written independently, in terms of their information sources as their
position in the wider blogosphere.
Reese et al (2007), has conducted a more thorough examination of weblinks
found on independent political blogs in the US, by following hyperlinks further
and looking at those located outside the body of each post. This research
takes a slightly different approach by simply categorising the destination site
of the link found within a given text. Despite this, inspiration for link coding
was taken from the Reese et al (2007) article. Minor alterations had to be
made to acknowledge the extra categories that would be required when
examining established weblogs, as Reese had purely investigated
independent sites.
The following categories were used:
• Own Weblog – A reference to an earlier post made on that weblog.
• Parent Newspaper – A link to a story featured in the parent newspaper.
This category is only applicable to the established weblogs.
46
• Other Established Weblog – A link to another weblog associated with
an established media provider.
• Other Independent Weblog – A link to another independently written
weblog.
• Media Website – A reference to story found on any other media site, i.e
BBC.
• Opinion Journal – A link to a story found in an opinion journal, i.e New
Statesman or Spectator.
• Political Party/Organisation Website – A link to a political party or
organistion, i.e Labour Party or Engage, the anti-Semitism group.
• Government Website – A link to a website containing the domain ‘.gov’
• Policy Document – A reference to a government publication or policy
document, usually in PDF format.
• University or Academic Institution Website – A link to a University
website.
• Wikipedia – A link to the free content encyclopaedia.
• Other Website – A link to any other website.
Weber (1990) stresses the importance of testing a coding structure on a small
sample of text. This was especially important when examining hyperlinks. As
there was no prior knowledge of the range in hyperlinked sites, it was not
certain that the prescribed categories would adequately reflect the weblogs.
For instance the ‘Wikipedia’ category was only added after discovering a
47
significant number of links to this site. Had this category not been created
then these links would have been grouped with ‘Other Websites’ and hence
reduced the clarity of the results.
Research Question: When examining hyperlinks, is it possible note any
differences in the sources from which each category of weblog draws its
information?
Section 4
The final section of content analysis again used the entire weblog post as the
recording unit and attempted to broadly categorise its tone. Reese et al (2007)
had used a similar method to categorise the way in which weblog authors
refer to the links found on their blog. For example, by supporting or reinforcing
another piece of information, ‘here is an excellent post’. Or alternatively
attacking or undermining another source, ‘This is farcical!’.
This research decided not to mirror this research completely for two reasons.
Firstly, when categorising a link it may be possible to observe supportive and
attacking references within an isolated text, leading to ambiguity in the results
(Weber, 1990). Secondly, the purpose of this study was to classify the weblog
post rather than a single hyperlink. On some levels this is recognition of the
fact that a weblog post may be present a strong opinion without using
hyperlinks as a focus for attack or support. In terms of this investigation it also
means that posts without hyperlinks would not be excluded from the analysis.
The following coding structure was used to categorise each post:
Neutral
This category includes posts that highlight a topic or information source
without offering judgement. Or alternatively analyse conflicting views of an
argument without explicitly stating a preference for either opinion.
48
Attacking, undermining
This group includes articles which raise a subject, using a hyperlink or
otherwise, with the intention of attacking or undermining its viewpoint or
credibility.
Supporting, reinforcing
This group includes articles which raise a subject, using a hyperlink or
otherwise, with the intention of supporting or reinforcing its viewpoint or
credibility.
Research question: Does the tone of blog post vary between independent and
established weblogs?
Limitations
As Pickard (2007) explains, ‘limitations are inevitable in many research
studies. It is far more usual to make compromises in research design than it is
to do everything we would like to do, exactly as we would like to do it. What
matters is that these limitations are identified and explained from the outset’.
There are regrettably limitations in design of this research both in terms of the
samples selected for examination and those inherent to the actual method of
analysis.
Content analysis requires the researcher to assemble a sample and define a
coding strategy by which to categorise textual data. However, there is a
central concern that different investigators may set alternative parameters and
hence retrieve varying results (Weber, 1990). This is further accentuated by
the ambiguity of word meanings, or category definitions. To overcome this
problem it is advisable for multiple coders to work on one project and
therefore reduce the likelihood that an individual’s preconceptions or
prejudices affect the results. Unfortunately, as this is an individual project the
results of the study can only represent one person’s interpretation of the
available data. This is not to undermine the conclusions made, nor claim that
they are inaccurate or unreliable, but rather they need to be set in context of
49
further research. To avoid unnecessary every attempt was made to follow and
were possible draw inspiration from other research that had employed
multiple investigators.
The restrictions on time and resources also limit the time frame over which
selected weblogs can be monitored. While this is not a major problem it needs
to be clarified that the results of this study represent a snapshot of the UK
political blogosphere at one point in time. The literature review described a
blogosphere that is in constant flux, as new trends emerge, relationships with
citizen and professional journalists continually evolve and original ways of
using weblogs and other social media materialise. As a consequence, the
longevity of these research outcomes may be reduced. Instead they may
provide a theoretical platform on which to base future research and perhaps
illuminate such changes.
Similarly, time restrictions meant that only three weblogs in each category
could be examined. Ideally a larger sample would have been taken perhaps
better reflecting the diversity of the blogosphere.
50
Chapter 4: Results
Evaluation
Section 1
The investigation into the type of posts found on selected weblogs, revealed
the majority were best categorised as ‘General Comments’. This includes
posts that simply provided an impartial comment, drew attention to an
interesting story or supplied a piece of housekeeping news that concerned the
process of blogging, rather than politics. Nevertheless, the extent of this
majority did vary between each blog, although not significantly between
‘Established’ and ‘Independent’ weblogs as a group. The Guardian stands out
as being the blog with the highest percentage of general comments, with the
other blogs varying between 50-60%.
Interestingly, the research revealed that the sample weblogs contained
virtually no firsthand observations. The sole exception was a post discovered
on Harry’ Place weblog referring to reunion with a school friend.
Section 2
The examination of the stylistic features of each blog post revealed that
although the prevalence of pictures and videos varied between weblogs, there
was no distinct trend that separated the collective ‘Established’ and
‘Independent’ groups.
Analysis of hyperlink frequency revealed that the independent bloggers
tended to use weblinks more frequently than their established rivals with 57%
of Telegraph and 62% of Daily Mail blog postings containing no hyperlinks at
all. This compared with 3.7%, 5.7% and 46.1% of blog postings with no
51
hyperlinks for Harry’s Place, Tim Worstall and Guido Fawkes. The exception
to this rule was the Guardian site which used hyperlinks extensively to
assemble a variety of stories on a given subject.
The results of the investigation into blog post length revealed substantial
variations in average word count. The highest and lowest values were also
presented to highlight the vast spectrum in word length amongst the studied
posts. Although perhaps the post length was more consistent in the
established weblogs, no firm distinctions can be made from these figures.
Section 3
When conducting this content analysis, the first point to mention is that the
disparity in number of hyperlinks between the established weblogs (9), (16)
and (135) and their independent equivalent (205), (42) and (251) ensured that
comparisons are more difficult.
Calculating average numbers can skew the results. For example, a hyperlink
found on the Daily Mail weblog accounted for 11.1% of the total. Alternatively,
the same hyperlink on Tim Worstall’s weblog accounted for 0.4% of the total.
The alternative is to present the total number of hyperlinks in each category,
however this method can also be misleading. Ultimately, the decision was
taken to cross reference both versions and present the second format in the
appendix of the report.
Despite these difficulties, it is possible to note a number a trends. Among the
arguably the most significant is that independent weblogs appear to link to a
much broader range of destination sites than the blogs associated with online
newspapers. Harry’s Place linked to sites with all 12 of the hyperlink
categories, Tim Worstall 10 of 12 and Guido 7 of 12. In comparison, the
Guardian linked to sites within 9 of its 13 categories, Telegraph 6 of 13 and
the Daily Mail 6 of 13. Furthermore, the bulk of hyperlinks identified on
established media weblogs, led to their parent website or other online
52
newspapers. By contrast independent bloggers exhibited a more even
distribution across the prescribed categories.
Independent weblogs also linked more frequently to other weblogs. This is
particularly evident in their links to other independently written blogs, which
are largely ignored by the established media bloggers.
Independent bloggers linked to Opinion Journals, established bloggers did not.
Independent bloggers drew far more information from political party and
organisation websites than their equivalent bloggers in the established media.
Independent weblogs also utilised Wikipedia as a source for basic information,
established bloggers did not.
Section 4
The final set of results indicates that largest group of posts on each weblog
are those that classified ‘neutral’ in outlook. Put another way, these articles
merely draw attention to an interesting story, provide an impartial account of
another person’s opinion or are simply concerned with an issue of
housekeeping that is unconnected with politics.
The results emphasise there are significantly more of these posts found on
the weblogs in established media than those which are independently written.
Neutral posts make up 66.7% of Daily Mail and 71.4% of the Telegraph’s
weblog content. The Guardian weblog, which is ultimately a dispassionate list
of news and opinion sources brought together in one location, has the highest
number, with 100% being categorised as ‘neutral’. By contrast, neutral posts
account for 56.4%, 47.7% and 47.2% of the Guido Fawkes, Tim Worstall and
Harry’s Place weblogs.
53
Instead, independently written blogs show a higher frequency of opinionated
articles, with a tendency to be ‘Attacking, undermining’ rather than ‘Supportive,
reinforcing’.
54
Tables
Table 1
Type of posts on selected blogs
Independent Established
Harry's Place Guido Fawkes Tim Worstall Guardian Telegraph Daily Mail
General Comment 52.8% 61.5% 55.2% 87.9% 57.1% 52.3%
Analysis/Opinion 45.3% 38.5% 44.8% 12.1% 42.9% 47.7%
Firsthand Observation 1.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
55
Table 2
Stylistic features of selected weblogs
Independent Established
Harry's Place Guido Fawkes Tim Worstall Guardian Telegraph Daily Mail
Weblinks 3.8 1.1 1.4 4.1 0.8 0.4
Pictures 0.25 0.89 0.03 0.09 1 0.05
Videos 0.04 0 0.03 0.06 0 0
Average Post Length 409 89 166 436 397 245
Longest Post 15 0 2 31 189 83
Shortest Post 2782 301 1045 1939 742 505
56
Table 3
Types of Information Sources
Independent Established
Harry's Place
Guido Fawkes Tim Worstall Guardian Telegraph Daily Mail
Own Weblog 8.8% 11.9% 0.8% 3.7% 0.0% 11.1%
Parent Newspaper* N/A N/A N/A 23.7% 37.5% 0.0%
Online Newspaper 13.2% 4.8% 43.0% 34.1% 12.5% 11.1%
Other Established Weblog 9.7% 0.0% 5.1% 0.0% 0.0% 11.1%
Other Independent Weblog 10.7% 14.3% 19.1% 5.9% 0.0% 22.2%
Opinion Journal 4.4% 4.8% 0.8% 0.8% 0.0% 0.0%
Media Website 11.8% 7.1% 3.6% 13.3% 0.0% 11.1%
Political Party Website 11.8% 35.7% 1.2% 1.5% 6.3% 0.0%
Government Website 2.4% 0.0% 1.2% 4.4% 6.3% 0.0%
Wikipedia 5.8% 0.0% 16.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Policy Document 0.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 6.3% 0.0%
University Website 0.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Other Website 20.4% 21.4% 8.4% 12.6% 31.2% 33.3%
57
Tone of blog post
Independent Established
Harry's Place Guido Fawkes Tim Worstall Guardian Telegraph Daily Mail
Neutral 47.2% 56.4% 47.7% 100.0% 71.4% 66.7%
Attacking, undermining 43.4% 25.6% 37.9% 0.0% 23.8% 19.0%
Supporting, reinforcing 9.4% 18.0% 14.4% 0.0% 4.8% 14.3%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table 4
58
Chapter 5: Discussion of Results
Section 1
Research Question: Do the types of posts on independent weblogs differ from
those found on established media weblogs?
The content analysis performed on the sample weblogs investigated the type
of posts found on each category of weblog. This study was designed to
analyse whether there was any discernable difference in the occurrence of
analysis or opinion articles, or firsthand eye witness accounts such as those
that filled the blogosphere post 9/11. Similarly, to what extent was each
weblog simply providing a general comment or highlighting another piece of
interesting information?
The most striking thing about the first set of results is the almost total absence
of firsthand journalism. This is perhaps to be expected in the established
media as significant stories are allocated to the main section of the newspaper.
However, barring one article, the independent bloggers analysed also did not
these types of blog posts. The methodology of this study argued the merits of
choosing a time frame that represented an average two weeks in politics,
however indirectly this may have reduced the chance of large scale firsthand
journalism. Much of the literature focussed on citizen journalism following a
major event (Regan, 2003). Tim Worstall had also achieve notoriety for his
observations following the July 7 attack in London (Home News, 2005). Yet it
appears from these results that during relatively quiet times this form of
journalism declines. It may also be the case that during a major event weblogs
are created with the sole purpose of reporting a story and are not permanently
updated.
Secondly, the results indicated a comparative consistency in the ratio of
‘General Comments’ to ‘Analysis/Opinion’. The Guardian stood out as
59
containing the highest number of general comment posts, and this perhaps
reflects the underlying motive of the blog as a venue where interesting news
stories are brought together for others to judge themselves. Nevertheless, it is
possible to suggest that during the prescribed two week period there was no
distinct difference in the type of posts found on each category of blog. As a
final point of caution, it is worth noting that as the coding structure was
unspecific, it may not have recognised the full subtleties of the type of posts
on each weblog. Nevertheless, subdividing the categories further would have
proved conceptually difficult and warranted multiple coders.
Section 2
Research Question: Are there any perceived trends in the way established
and independent political weblogs use pictures, videos and hyperlinks?
Research Question: How does the blog post length vary between the
established and independent weblog groups?
The second section of this research looked at the prevalence of pictures,
videos and hyperlinks on each weblog, as well as recording the word count for
each blog post. Weblogs are extremely versatile and allow the author to
express their personality easily, not just through the words they write but also
the stylistic features they apply to their work (Pack, 2004).
The results indicated that in terms of pictures and videos there is no
noticeable trend between established and independent bloggers. Video’s
were used too infrequently to produce any meaningful data. Pictures counts
varied considerably between weblogs but not between each blog category.
Similarly, blog post length ranged considerably between weblog but provided
no clear division between independent and established weblogs. From this we
may deduced that the freedom the medium of weblogs provides gives the
author, whether citizen or professional, the license to control their own
aesthetic style. We may also confirm that for professional journalists writing a
60
weblog is the a chance to escape the space confines associated with a hard
copy newspaper, the scope in length of blog post is testament that they
exercise this independence.
The hyperlink count was the most pronounced difference between each
category. The independent blogs used 498 hyperlinks during the two weeks
compared with 160 for established blogs during the same period. The
Guardian utilised the most web links, and again this further supports the
theory that it is essentially a hub connecting stories on a given subject. Yet,
even the Guardian was dwarfed by the vast hyperlinking of Harry’s Place (205)
and Tim Worstall (251). Of course, allowances need to be made for
differences in total blog posts, yet it is still possible from these results to
conclude that independent weblogs generally use hyperlinks more extensively
than the equivalent blogs in the established media.
Section 3
Research Question: When examining hyperlinks, is it possible note any
differences in the sources from which each category of weblog draws its
information?
The literature review highlighted a section of opinion that argued independent
weblogs were essentially a parasitic medium (Burkeman, 2005). In other
terms, they rely on the mainstream media for their information and merely
provide an alternative opinion on the facts gathered by a professional
journalist. A brief look at hyperlink destination sites in Table 3 and the lack of
any firsthand observation in Table 1, suggest this is accurate. However, this
section of the research provided an interesting comparison with the sourcing
of established bloggers.
The results show that independent bloggers use a much broader range of
sources than their established counterparts. In part this may be a result of
their willingness to exploit sites that are perhaps deemed not credible by
61
professional journalists. The two obvious examples are Wikipedia, a free
updated online encyclopaedia, and other independent weblogs that may have
an uncultured approach to the process of political analysis. Established media
blogs are more closely integrated with other traditional online newspapers
than they are with the rest of the independent political blogosphere. The
results also indicate that the established weblog, particularly the Guardian,
was also a tool for increasing awareness in the stories feature in its own
parent publication. Independent weblogs also linked to themselves however
this was often a means of showing the context of a story.
Section 4
Research question: Does the tone of blog post vary between independent and
established weblogs?
Finally, the fourth set of results compared the differences in tone between
blog posts written by independent and established authors. The results were
conclusive in showing a much larger section of the independent weblogs were
devoted to offering a strong opinion on a specific issue or story. Furthermore,
that they were often attacking rather than supportive.
This may be a reflection of a combination of factors. Firstly, independent
bloggers by the very definition have no editorial supervision whether formal of
implied, and can consequently present stronger opinions without jeprodising
their position or the loyalty of their target audience. Established journalists
perhaps don’t have the same luxury, Toolan (2003) highlighted the difficulties
in reconciling journalistic freedom with editorial coherence.
Secondly, weblogs written by established journalists may also be naturally
more impartial as a result of formal training and adherence to a journalistic
code. Most independent bloggers have had little instruction and consequently
they may have no misgivings of writing unashamedly biased articles.
62
Independent bloggers are also characterised by a tendency to attack rather
than support. This is a confirmation of many of the sentiments brought up in
the Burkeman’s (2005) interview with leading bloggers. It was also the case
that supportive posts were higher amongst conservative leaning blogs as a
result of their advocacy for Boris Johnsons bid to become London Mayor. This
balance is likely to shift with the highs and lows of partisan politics.
63
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Conclusion
This research is one limited snapshot of a vast blogosphere. Furthermore, the
limitations of content analysis only allow this study to be classed as one
persons’ interpretation of the data. Consequently, this research cannot make
definitive claims. Nevertheless, it is possible to see that while established and
independent political weblogs have many similarities in style they also differ in
the sources from which they drawn information, integration with the rest of the
blogosphere and the tone of their delivery.
While these trends remain accurate, independent bloggers will maintain a
niche in the sphere of political commentary and continue to challenge the
ideas as well as the primacy of established professional journalism.
Recommendations for further research
This research represents another small investigation into a vast subject and
signifies one persons’ interpretation of the available data. Any
recommendation for further research must first mention the possibility of
conducting the same or similar study again to verify these results and
conclusions. As this study represents a narrow snapshot of the political
blogosphere it may be fruitful to repeat the study and assess any
developments in the style and content of independent and established media
blogs taking the findings of this work as a starting point.
A future study may also decide to broaden the number of weblogs in the
analysis, lengthen the prescribed time frame or assemble sample texts from
political weblogs at random rather than from a set list. Future research may
64
also like to concentrate on one aspect of the weblog content analysis perform
in this study and explore it in more detail.
In addition, there are a number of alternative projects in this area, the
following are but a few suggestions:
• A comparative analysis of established and independent political
weblogs, using discourse analysis as the method for investigation to
examine the language used.
• Mapping the British political blogosphere using Reese et al (2007)
research as a template and contrasting it with finding in the US.
• An examination of independent blogging on a subject outside of politics.
Word Count: 17,186
65
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69
Appendices
Appendix 1
Raw data taken from content analysis used to compile Table 1.
Guido Fawkes
Blog Post Weblinks Pictures Videos
Word Count
1 3 3 0 882 1 1 0 373 2 1 0 374 0 1 0 05 5 2 0 216 3 2 0 657 3 1 0 1018 0 1 0 1079 1 0 0 113
10 1 0 0 6411 2 1 0 11012 0 1 0 5613 0 1 0 11414 2 1 0 21515 0 1 0 14716 0 0 0 10217 0 1 0 12218 2 1 0 10619 2 1 0 15320 1 1 0 521 0 0 0 3022 0 1 0 1423 2 0 0 8424 1 2 0 2125 2 1 0 18526 0 1 0 11027 4 1 0 6128 1 0 0 15029 0 1 0 6630 0 0 0 30131 0 0 0 3632 1 0 0 4133 0 0 0 2934 0 2 0 9335 0 2 0 23136 2 0 0 7037 1 1 0 5538 0 1 0 132
70
39 0 1 0 0 Total 42 35 0 3472
Harry's Place Blog Post Weblinks Pictures Videos
Word Count
1 0 0 0 162 1 0 0 1703 2 0 0 5114 2 0 0 5045 1 0 0 5056 4 0 0 3737 3 0 0 8178 3 0 0 11439 13 0 0 565
10 6 0 0 60911 1 0 0 2812 2 0 0 97513 3 0 0 26814 7 0 0 26515 3 0 0 37416 3 0 0 19717 13 1 0 287218 2 0 0 15819 6 0 0 49720 5 0 0 17121 34 0 0 170622 1 0 0 3923 3 0 0 72624 1 0 0 22725 4 0 0 8726 4 2 0 19027 4 0 0 34428 1 0 0 19629 3 0 0 4030 1 0 0 18231 6 1 0 18032 1 0 1 18433 2 1 0 16034 3 0 0 8335 8 0 0 69336 2 0 1 16737 2 0 0 3038 1 1 0 5339 1 0 0 9540 2 1 0 49641 5 0 0 22042 1 0 0 1543 1 0 0 28544 5 0 0 50345 1 0 0 312
71
46 2 0 0 12047 2 4 0 10648 2 0 0 24549 3 1 0 63650 0 0 0 134051 12 0 0 88552 3 0 0 8453 1 1 0 19
Total 202 13 2 21666
Tim Worstall
Blog Post Weblinks Pictures Videos
Word Count
1 2 0 0 3202 1 0 0 393 0 0 0 214 1 0 0 1925 2 0 0 1106 1 0 0 577 1 0 0 108 1 0 0 2059 4 0 0 259
10 1 0 0 11911 1 0 0 32712 1 0 0 40713 1 0 0 29714 1 0 0 13815 1 0 0 17716 1 0 0 39617 1 0 0 1818 1 0 0 6919 1 0 0 2120 0 0 0 8021 1 0 1 4722 1 0 0 223 1 0 0 7624 1 0 0 3125 1 0 0 32326 1 0 0 10827 1 0 0 11928 1 0 0 6029 1 0 0 17830 1 0 0 8831 1 0 0 25532 3 0 0 14033 1 0 0 14934 2 0 0 54735 1 0 0 6336 0 0 1 837 1 0 0 2938 1 0 0 155
72
39 1 0 0 8240 1 0 0 16141 1 0 0 37042 1 0 0 14043 3 0 0 54044 0 0 0 4445 1 0 0 17746 1 0 0 2847 1 0 0 1048 1 0 0 9049 2 0 0 65750 1 0 0 11651 2 0 0 4652 1 0 0 2053 1 0 0 2654 1 0 0 5255 2 0 0 18456 1 0 0 21357 1 0 0 5358 1 0 0 659 2 0 0 35560 4 0 0 19561 1 0 0 21862 0 0 0 3363 1 0 0 27164 1 0 0 23965 2 0 0 9666 5 0 0 22067 1 0 0 35068 1 0 0 12969 3 0 0 33070 1 0 0 3771 1 0 0 18772 1 0 0 17273 1 0 0 31974 1 0 0 15575 7 0 0 14876 1 0 0 32377 1 0 0 10078 1 0 0 14879 1 0 0 29680 1 0 0 59481 1 0 0 42882 1 0 1 12783 1 0 0 9584 1 0 0 31385 2 0 0 7886 2 0 1 6387 1 0 0 16288 1 0 0 14589 3 0 0 30790 1 0 0 15891 1 0 0 7092 1 0 0 114
73
93 1 0 0 29694 1 0 0 4195 1 0 0 25096 1 0 0 16597 1 0 0 24198 2 0 0 49399 11 0 0 642
100 2 0 0 144101 1 0 0 70102 1 0 0 9103 1 0 0 244104 1 0 0 42105 1 0 0 63106 1 0 0 182107 1 0 0 40108 1 0 0 120109 5 0 0 1045110 1 0 0 141111 1 0 0 130112 1 0 0 13113 1 0 0 110114 1 0 0 88115 1 0 0 108116 0 0 0 89117 0 0 0 159118 0 0 0 29119 1 0 0 17120 1 0 0 8121 2 0 0 174122 1 1 0 17123 1 0 0 49124 2 0 0 73125 1 0 0 14126 1 0 0 148127 4 0 0 511128 1 0 0 44129 1 0 0 184130 1 0 0 295131 2 0 0 160132 1 0 0 61133 1 0 0 149134 1 0 0 117135 1 0 0 48136 1 0 0 150137 1 0 0 237138 1 0 0 251139 1 0 0 48140 24 0 0 274141 1 1 0 272142 1 0 0 599143 1 0 0 33144 4 0 0 566145 1 0 0 106146 0 0 0 113
74
147 3 0 0 83148 1 0 0 13149 1 0 0 98150 1 1 0 5151 1 0 0 242152 1 0 0 560153 1 0 0 169154 1 0 0 189155 2 0 0 137156 1 0 0 144157 1 0 0 154158 1 0 0 118159 1 2 0 63160 1 0 0 55161 1 0 0 275162 1 0 0 250163 2 0 0 14164 1 0 0 13165 1 0 0 36166 1 0 0 48167 1 0 0 67168 1 0 0 10169 1 0 0 330170 1 0 0 111171 0 0 1 9172 1 0 0 31173 1 0 0 47174 2 1 0 325
Total 251 6 5 28898
Guardian
Blog Post Weblinks Pictures Videos
Word Count
1 6 0 0 3562 5 0 1 1763 4 0 0 2724 7 0 0 5585 7 0 0 3426 6 0 0 5057 2 0 0 19398 2 0 0 14209 4 1 0 198
10 1 0 0 3711 2 0 0 14412 5 0 0 31113 1 0 0 14714 3 0 1 47115 2 0 0 3116 12 0 0 35517 6 1 0 15918 0 0 0 220
75
19 3 0 0 22920 5 0 0 52721 4 0 0 23622 5 0 0 26123 0 0 0 6524 1 0 0 16925 8 0 0 23426 2 0 0 28127 5 1 0 38428 0 0 0 156129 4 0 0 13830 8 0 0 35831 5 0 0 23132 6 0 0 181733 4 0 0 268
Total 135 3 2 14400
Daily Mail
Blog Post Weblinks Pictures Videos
Word Count
1 1 0 0 2642 0 0 0 3643 1 0 0 1764 0 0 0 2525 0 0 0 1846 1 0 0 3477 0 0 0 3968 2 0 0 1779 1 0 0 174
10 0 0 0 23911 0 0 0 12912 0 1 0 19213 1 0 0 8314 0 0 0 11815 1 0 0 39316 1 0 0 16817 0 0 0 50518 0 0 0 21119 0 0 0 14320 0 0 0 28021 0 0 0 350
Total 9 1 0 5145
Telegraph
Blog Post Weblinks Pictures Videos
Word Count
1 0 1 0 2502 2 1 0 437
76
3 1 1 0 5404 0 1 0 2195 1 1 0 1896 0 1 0 3097 0 1 0 3428 0 1 0 7429 1 1 0 348
10 0 1 0 28511 1 1 0 30612 1 1 0 33613 2 1 0 59714 0 1 0 61015 0 1 0 38016 4 1 0 46517 0 1 0 36218 0 1 0 43719 3 1 0 21120 0 1 0 56421 0 1 0 411
Total 16 1 0 8340
Appendix 2
The alternative version of Table 3, quoting number of links counted.
Table 3 Types of Information Sources Independent Established
Harry's Place Guido Tim
Worstall Guardian Telegraph Daily Mail
Own Weblog 18 5 2 5 0 1Parent Newspaper* N/A N/A N/A 32 6 0Online Newspaper 27 2 108 46 2 1Other Established Weblog 20 0 13 0 0 1Other Independent Weblog 22 6 48 8 0 2Opinion Journal 9 2 2 0 0 0Media Website 24 3 9 19 0 1Political Party Website 24 15 3 2 1 0Government Website 5 0 3 6 1 0Wikipedia 12 0 42 0 0 0Policy Document 1 0 0 0 1 0University Website 1 0 0 0 0 0Other Website 42 9 21 17 5 3Total 205 42 251 135 16 9
Appendix 3
77
Alternative version of Table 4, quoting number of blog posts in each category.
Table 4 Style of blog post Independent Established
Harry's Place
Guido Fawkes
Tim Worstall Guardian Telegraph Daily
Mail Neutral 25 22 83 33 15 14Attacking, undermining 23 10 66 0 5 4Supporting, reinforcing 5 7 25 0 1 3Total 53 39 174 33 21 21