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Are Bloggers Setting the Agenda? It Depends on the Scandal
New York Times ^ | 5/23/2005 | TOM ZELLER Jr.

Posted on 05/23/2005 6:35:23 AM PDT by mathprof

IN the spring of 1712, the British essayist Joseph Addison rambled from pub to parlor seeking the pulse of his countrymen regarding rumors (false, it turned out) that the king of France, Louis XIV, had died. The St. James coffeehouse, Addison reported in The Spectator, was "in a Buzz of Politics."

In the 18th century, "buzz" was part of what social theorists called the emerging - and powerful - bourgeois public sphere. In the 21st century, the buzz is in the blogosphere.

Or at least, that's the popular mythology. As a result of their influence in incidents like the "60 Minutes" episode in which CBS was duped by forged documents related to the president's National Guard service, bloggers have taken on the role of agenda-setters - citizen scribe-warriors wresting power from a mainstream media grown fat and lazy.

But according to a preliminary study - the first rigorous look at the influence wielded by political blogs during the 2004 presidential campaign - bloggers are not always the kingmakers that pundits sometimes credit them with being. They can, it seems, exert a tremendous amount of influence - generate buzz, that is - but only under certain circumstances.

Buzz is potent stuff.

"Buzz can alter social behavior and perceptions," wrote the authors of "Buzz, Blogs and Beyond," published last week by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the market research firm BuzzMetrics. "It can embolden or embarrass subjects. It can affect sales, donations and campaign coffers. It can move issues up, down and across institutional agendas."

To analyze Web log buzz, the study zeroed in on a few dozen political blogs, from left-leaning forums like Daily Kos and AmericaBlog to conservative ones like Instapundit and Power Line, as well as middle-of-the road sites like BuzzMachine and Wonkette...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bloggers; bullzogby; gotitwrongagain; jasonblairsyndrome; lyingliars; mediabias; newsweak; nytimes; pajamapeoplerule; rathergate; theoldgreylady; tisapityshesawhore; weblogs; zogbyism
Wonkette "middle-of-the road"?? That's a joke.
1 posted on 05/23/2005 6:35:23 AM PDT by mathprof
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To: mathprof

Huh. The NYT is still in business?


2 posted on 05/23/2005 6:36:25 AM PDT by TheBigB (These aren't the droids you're looking for...)
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To: mathprof
The New York Times once again delves into the murky world of "that inter-web thingie"...
3 posted on 05/23/2005 6:38:31 AM PDT by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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To: mathprof

From this byline:
New York Times ^ | 5/23/2005 | TOM ZELLER Jr.

Are you suprised they think Wonkette is MoR?


4 posted on 05/23/2005 6:38:45 AM PDT by Dominick ("Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." - JP II)
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To: gridlock

Yeah, that Wonkette, she's sure "middle-of-the-road." Geez, these guys are obvious sometimes.


5 posted on 05/23/2005 6:39:30 AM PDT by CorbyCard
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To: mathprof
"Wonkette "middle-of-the-road"??"

Well, considering the source of the article wonkette would be middle of the road...

6 posted on 05/23/2005 6:39:45 AM PDT by raivyn (I think the cops have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you're running from them -George Carlin)
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To: mathprof

This is a bunch of words that don't say much at all. zzzzzzzzzzz


7 posted on 05/23/2005 6:39:53 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: TheBigB
"The NYT is still in business?"

My thoughts exactly!

NYT Barf alert!!!


8 posted on 05/23/2005 6:40:52 AM PDT by raivyn (I think the cops have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you're running from them -George Carlin)
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To: mathprof
My, my, they sure are obsessed with proving blogs are meaningless, just like Howard Dean is obsessed with Rush Limbaugh.

Wonder why that is? /sarc

9 posted on 05/23/2005 6:42:24 AM PDT by browardchad
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To: mathprof

So the bottom line is that lefty-loony theories like the debate jacket-bulge being a secret link to Karl Rove turn out to not have much ability to influence people's thinking, whereas right-wing truth obvious to everyone (except journalists) like the fakery inherent in the Bush TANG documents, catch fire and become well-known. Wonder why? Would it have anything to do with one is accurate and the other is lunacy regardless of the politics involved?


10 posted on 05/23/2005 6:46:03 AM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: mathprof
Wonkette "middle-of-the road"?? That's a joke.

Well maybe from the perspective of people whom overwhelmingly voted for Kerry and Gore. No one ever accused the New York Times of being fair and balanced.

11 posted on 05/23/2005 6:48:26 AM PDT by Always Right
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To: browardchad

Good point.


12 posted on 05/23/2005 6:50:59 AM PDT by cvq3842
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To: TheBigB

As long as people eat fish and clean bird cages the NYT will stay in business.


13 posted on 05/23/2005 7:05:41 AM PDT by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: mathprof

Well, considering that most of the NYT editors are flaming gayboys, as first revealed to us by Washington Times writer Bill Sammon, it's no surpise that they think skankyrat Wonkette is mild. More than likely, they may think that she is boring.


14 posted on 05/23/2005 7:45:21 AM PDT by Vision Thing (Liberal Democrats are brain dead. Pull their feeding tubes, now!)
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To: TheBigB
The NYT is still in business?

Yeah, but they spend most of their time whistling past graveyards.

15 posted on 05/23/2005 8:01:46 AM PDT by randog (What the....?!)
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To: randog

I think they call the NYT The Old Grey Whore.


16 posted on 05/23/2005 8:11:14 AM PDT by FastCoyote
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