Bloggers Focus on Obama’s Opposition
From public protests to race to health care, domestic issues dominated the commentary from bloggers last week. Combined, the three topics made up almost half (46%) of the links the week of September 14-18, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.
It was not a discussion of the issues themselves, however, but a debate about the motives and extent of the President’s opposition that drove the conversation online. That debate was triggered by a remark about race and politics, a large protest in Washington D.C. and a censure of a Congressman who heckled Obama. The events and ensuing commentary rolled out sequentially during the course of the week..................
http://www.journalism.org/print/17658
Astroturf is a fake grass roots movement. The term is applied when a Public Relations firm creates a fake grassroots group on behalf of a secretive client to professionally manipulate public opinion. According to Business Week, Obama Chief Strategist David Axelrod’s firm ASK is known as “the gold standard in Astroturf organizing.
http://www.flashpointblog.com/2008/09/22/astroturf/