Leading the political blogs
UPDATE: Jeff Bercovici at Portfolio.com asks some more questions:
Open-ended question that I can’t even begin to answer: Is an upsurge in liberal sentiment driving the traffic growth to liberal sites? Or do sites like Huffpo and Daily Kos deserve some of the credit (or blame, depending on your point of view) for the current pro-Democratic trend in politics?
Interesting numbers posted by paidContent about the top political weblogs this campaign season. Just for fun, I coded the sites along political leanings (red-conservative, blue-liberal/progressive, black-objective/centrist):
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Sep-2007 Sep-2008 % Change
Total Internet: Total Audience 181,858 189,468 4
HUFFINGTONPOST.COM 792 4,545 474
POLITICO.COM 532 2,362 344
DRUDGEREPORT.COM 1,215 2,059 70
REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM 192 1,129 489
FREEREPUBLIC.COM 1,022 987 -3
Capitol Advantage 794 959 21
DAILYKOS.COM 192 923 381
TOWNHALL.COM 407 884 117
NEWSBUSTERS.ORG 113 732 547
WORLDNETDAILY.COM 411 636 55
TALKINGPOINTSMEMO.COM 32 458 1,321
MICHELLEMALKIN.COM 103 247 140
REDSTATE.COM 38 235 514
CROOKSANDLIARS.COM 122 218 79
RAWSTORY.COM 219 212 -3
POLLSTER.COM N/A 194 N/A
MEDIAMATTERS.ORG 145 178 23
FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM N/A 169 N/A
CQPOLITICS.COM N/A 139 N/A
AMERICABLOG.COM N/A 104 N/A
The results:
Conservative: 8 (5,992)
Liberal/Progressive: 7 (6,595)
Objective/Centrist: 5 (4,783)
A pretty even breakdown between conservatives and liberal/progressives (although Huffingtonpost.com represents a majority of the liberal/conservative traffic. Obviously, all these blogs are benefiting from the intense scrutiny of this historic election.
Rafit Ali asks an important question:
And while these numbers are in and of itself interesting, the biggest question for any of them is what happens the day after?
I suspect many of these sites will do well in the coming year, although certainly not as well as they are doing during the campaign season. Remember that many of these sites (Daily Kos or RedState, for instance) have an agenda, and the agenda doesn’t stop with the election - especially not this election season, with the economy, war, and health insurance promising to be at the forefront of the next president’s agenda.
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Social networks and the 2008 political elections
Just something to update on what I’m doing. I’m writing a new version of the “legal and ethical issues in online journalism” article I wrote for “Keeping Free Presses Free,” and I’m working with a colleague on a study of the use of social networks in the 2008 presidential campaign. Oh, and I’m blogging at the ICM weblog all the time.
I’m also watching the financial news and wondering what’s ahead for 2009. It could be an ugly year.
links for 2008-10-04
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Wordpress goodies.
links for 2008-10-02
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This is another example of big companies trying to hold back the tide of innovation through lawyers.
links for 2008-09-21
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via megan taylor.
Bob McChesney speaks at Eastern Illinois University
Image via Wikipedia Media critic Bob McChesney spoke Tuesday night, Sept. 16, 2008 at Eastern Illinois University. Below is the audio recording of his remarks and the Q&A session that followed. McChesney spoke for about 30 minutes about the real meaning of freedom of the press, the problems of professional journalism, and solutions to the crisis in the media. The entire audio is approx. 1:20.
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Academic Resources page working again
For some reason, the Academic Resources page was not working with the WordPress 2.6 upgrade. Now, with 2.6.1, it appears to be working again. Enjoy.
links for 2008-09-10
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Some effects cost $$$, but others are free. Check them out.
Media frenzy: the Palin files
Image by bobster1985 via Flickr For the past five days, I’ve been riveted by the media frenzy over vice presidential pick Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska. What strikes me most is the way the media - print, tv, radio, online - have rushed to fill in the details on the sketchy knowledge available about the candidate.
They say that nature abhors a vacuum. I would suggest that the media abhors a vacuum even more. Since the announcement, we’ve learned about Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy, “Troopergate,” her support for the “Bridge to Nowhere,” her husband’s involvement in the Alaska Independence Party, her lobbying for federal funds for local project, her role in a 527 for Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, and who knows what will turn up in the days to come.
Also fascinating was the Wikipedia battle that arose from the appearance of a user “YoungTrig,” who began editing Palin’s Wikipedia entry the day before the announcement. Check out this NPR story for more details on that angle.
What to make of all this? Certainly there has been a rush from both the G.O.P. and the Democrats to “define” Palin one way or the other. But the definition is hinging on the reporting of media outlets and bloggers, responding to a wide-open v.p. pick with the type of reporting you probably wouldn’t have seen had the pick been a “known quantity” like Min. Gov. Pawlenty or former presidential aspirant Mitt Romney.
It’s too soon to see what damage all these revelations might have on the McCain campaign, but it’s fascinating to watch the media in action. Naturally, the McCain campaign has complained that the media are being “vicious and scurrilous” in their Palin stories.
I don’t really see that as the case. The media are doing their job. They are retroactively vetting the McCain vice presidential pick. They did the same to a lesser extent with Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s pick. But Biden was a known entity. He’d been a presidential candidate twice, and a senator for a long time. If Obama (who has had his own taste of the media scrutiny) had picked a little-known governor from a small (population) state, he’d have witnessed the same intense scrutiny of his pick.
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links for 2008-09-03
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Michael Wesch talks about the future of education.
Flickr
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