This document summarizes a research project analyzing the content and links of French and Australian political blogs from January to August 2009. It finds that blogs often link to and discuss mainstream media sources but also analyze, comment on, and critique media coverage, acting as a watchdog. An example is described of an Australian blog criticizing media election coverage (#grogsgate), which sparked debate between bloggers and journalists about blogs' role in informing the public debate. While some media see blogs as unreliable, the researcher concludes blogs play an important second-tier role in reanalyzing and interpreting news.

1. More news from where?
Reviewing blogging's contribution
to the mediasphere
IR11
Göteborg, Sweden, 21 October 2010
Tim Highfield
Queensland University of Technology
t.highfield@qut.edu.au
timhighfield.net @timhighfield

2. In this project, looking specifically at
political blogs
news / current events blogs
economics, law...
different foci, approaches, roles within
larger groups of blogs, including
analysts
link bloggers
psephologists
original reporters or commentators?
'informing' as main function of bloggers
(McKenna & Pole)

3. Bloggers and journalists
early examples of blogs' political influence/
breaking news (especially U.S.)
complementary relationship? (Singer)
readership for blogs might be low, but media
editors/advisors keep track of blogosphere/Twitter 'buzz'
gatewatching (Bruns)
blogs act as watchdogs
analysing, collecting, commenting
on, responding to mainstream media
output
blogs acting as (part of a) fifth estate?

4. Second tier media?
Gans (1980)
'central (or first-tier) media would be
complemented by a second tier … [who]
would devote themselves primarily
to reanalyzing and reinterpreting news
gathered by the central media - and the
wire services - for their audiences, adding
their own commentary and backing these
up with as much original reporting...
as would be financially feasible'

5. Criticism
reliance on other resources for content
Keen (2007):
blogs as unreliable sources, spreading
gossip and rumour
'much of the real news [blogs] contain has been lifted from
(or aggregated from) the very news organizations they aim
to replace'
blogosphere as echo chamber?

6. How blogs use media content
in general, blogs link to mainstream media content
more than to other blogs (Kenix 2009)?
source of information
critiquing content
link to other parts of page (e.g. comment threads)
topical variations and references

7. Research project
Study of French and Australian
political blogospheres (Jan-Aug 2009)
content of blog posts from sample of blogs
(and other sites) collected by Lars Kirchhoff and
Thomas Nicolai, Sociomantic Labs (Berlin)
text and links extracted from posts
whole period and event-specific studies
using text and hyperlink analysis

8. January – August 2009
Most referenced sites:
Most links from
French blogs
Most links from
Australian blogs
dailymotion.com/ [2702] theaustralian.com.au/ [735]
fr.wikipedia.org/ [1199] theage.com.au/ [697]
lemonde.fr/ [989] smh.com.au/ [665]
tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/ [803] en.wikipedia.org/ [538]
lefigaro.fr/ [752] guardian.co.uk/ [448]
liberation.fr/ [672] abc.net.au/ [423]
rue89.com/ [605] nytimes.com/ [394]
lexpress.fr/ [427] youtube.com/ [301]
google.com/hostednews/afp/ [362] abc.net.au/news/ [287]
marianne2.fr/ [348] haaretz.com/ [241]
lepoint.fr/ [344] flickr.com/ [216]
fr.news.yahoo.com/ [331] news.com.au/ [206]
lepost.fr/ [270] heraldsun.com.au/ [201]
20minutes.fr/ [267] news.com.au/couriermail/ [184]
sarkofrance.blogspot.com/ [256] news.bbc.co.uk/ [184]

9. Inauguration
16-25 January 2009
French blogs:
mainstream media coverage most widely-cited,
some international media, fewer alternative media
discuss inauguration but also GFC, Gaza, retrospectives,
Sarkozy, the Obama campaign
Most in-links Most out-links Most posts
lemonde.fr/ [17] lemammouth.over-blog.com/ [97] ilovepolitics.info/ [23]
fr.wikipedia.org/ [15] ilovepolitics.info/ [34] extremecentre.org/ [16]
liberation.fr/ [13] extremecentre.org/ [29] lemammouth.over-blog.com/ [9]
tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/ [12] politique.blomig.com [29] blog.mendes-france.com/ [6]
fr.news.yahoo.com/ [12] cafecroissant.fr [23] politique.fluctuat.net/ [4]
lefigaro.fr/ [11] nuesblog.com [21] profencampagne.com/ [4]
dailymotion.com/ [10] sarkofrance.blogspot.com [19] sarkofrance.blogspot.com/ [4]
youtube.com/ [9] lalettredejaures.over-blog.com [15] yanndarc.com/ [3]
lexpress.fr/ [9] sarkobasta.over-blog.com/ [9]
google.com/hostednews/afp/ [8]

10. Inauguration
Australian blogs:
US and UK mainstream media most referenced
inauguration as framing for discussion of economic response
to GFC, policy and strategy (environment, technology,
Guantanamo Bay), or analyse Obama's speech itself
Most in-links Most out-links Most posts
en.wikipedia.org/ [9] crikey.com.au/ [118] crikey.com.au/ [35]
youtube.com/ [8] blogs.crikey.com.au/crikey/ [21] mushroomandrooster.net/ [9]
guardian.co.uk/ [7] tamaleaver.net/ [18] antonyloewenstein.com/ [6]
nytimes.com/ [6] larvatusprodeo.net/ [17] lyndahawryluk.livejournal.com/ [6]
salon.com/ [5] mushroomandrooster.net/ [14] onlineopinion.com.au/ [6]
smh.com.au/ [4] blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/ [13] blogs.crikey.com.au/contentmakers/ [5]
washingtonpost.com/ [4] economics.com.au/ [13] larvatusprodeo.net/ [4]
huffingtonpost.com/ [4] lyndahawryluk.livejournal.com/ [12] abc.net.au/unleashed/ [4]
telegraph.co.uk/ [4] onlineopinion.com.au/ [11] blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/ [3]
whitehouse.gov/ [4] machinegunkeyboard.com/ [10] machinegunkeyboard.com/ [3]
time.com/ [4]

11. HADOPI
January – August 2009
Referencing MSM but also sites relevant to the news, debate,
campaign surrounding HADOPI
pol blogs as political voices, not just commenting on
news/informing but politically involved.
Spikes around votes, net blackout
Most in-links Most out-links Most posts
fr.wikipedia.org/ [84] lemammouth.over-blog.com/ [248] lescahiers.over-blog.com/ [54]
rue89.com/ [55] eco.rue89.com/ [90] eco.rue89.com/ [39]
numerama.com/ [49] irenedelse.com/ [87] rue89.com/ [23]
laquadrature.net/ [49] rue89.com/ [67] irenedelse.com/ [23]
lemonde.fr/ [46] lescahiers.over-blog.com/ [46] lemammouth.over-blog.com/ [23]
dailymotion.com/ [45] sarkofrance.blogspot.com/ [40] torapamavoa.blogspot.com/ [21]
pcinpact.com/ [37] blogs.lexpress.fr/nouvelleformule/ [39] jegpol.blogspot.com/ [17]
liberation.fr/ [33] rimbusblog.blogspot.com/ [34] nuesblog.com/ [15]
tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/ [32] sarkobasta.over-blog.com/ [20] lalettredejaures.over-blog.com/ [14]
ecrans.fr/ [29] lalettredejaures.over-blog.com/ [19] sarkobasta.over-blog.com/ [13]
rimbusblog.blogspot.com/ [13]

12. Utegate
June – August 2009
Most cited sites all Australian mainstream media (or
offshoot sites)
High numbers of links to MSM but low post totals reflect
a greater watchdog role – bloggers not wanting to cover
the ‘scandal’ but commenting on the media’s coverage
Most in-links Most out-links Most posts
smh.com.au/ [28] crikey.com.au/ [186] crikey.com.au/ [46]
theaustralian.news.com.au/ [26] larvatusprodeo.net/ [31] petermartin.blogspot.com/ [9]
theage.com.au/ [20] petermartin.blogspot.com/ [14] larvatusprodeo.net/ [9]
news.com.au/dailytelegraph/ [16] catallaxyfiles.com/ [6] alp.org.au/ [8]
thepunch.com.au/ [11] antonyloewenstein.com/ [4] blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/ [4]
news.com.au/couriermail/ [9] blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/ [3] onlineopinion.com.au/ [3]
news.com.au/heraldsun/ [9] tedalog.blogspot.com/ [2] blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/ [3]
abc.net.au/news/ [9] blogs.crikey.com.au/bartlett/ [2] catallaxyfiles.com/ [2]
abc.net.au/ [9] duncanriley.com/ [2]
blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/malcol
mfarr/ [8]

13. Australian mainstream media
and blogs
two primary examples of blogs critiquing aspects of
mainstream media content and media reaction
July 2007
interpretation of Newspoll figures by political blogs criticised
by an editorial in the Australian:
'On almost every issue it is difficult not to conclude that most
of the electronic offerings that feed off the work of The
Australian to create their own content are a waste of time. They
contribute only defamatory comments and politically coloured
analysis.'

14. #grog(s)gate
July – October 2010
Grog's Gamut – grogsgamut.blogspot.com
publishes a post critical of media election coverage
and journalists' questioning of policy
(30 July 2010)
Some Twitter debate, comments, posts follow,
including contributions and retweets from journalists

15. #grog(s)gate
7 August 2010
James Massola (The Australian) writes
on the debate started around the post
- although not the post content itself:
'Such a public conversation about
journalism was unimaginable five years ago.
If for no other reason, the incident
demonstrated why Twitter, and blogs, matter.'

16. #grog(s)gate
3 September 2010
Mark Scott (ABC) references Grog’s blog post
in speech about election coverage
'The contributions of bloggers - the constant
feedback and commentary of thousands through
the #ausvotes stream on Twitter – were
watched and considered by every mainstream
media editor. And we could see - the impact
made by some bloggers was every bit as great
as that made by other mainstream professional journalists'

17. #grog(s)gate
27 September 2010
Massola 'outs' Grog as Greg Jericho,
a Canberra public servant
defends decision as in the public interest
Aftermath:
questions around ethics of unmasking
(right to) anonymity /pseudonymity online?
blogs and accountability
Mainstream media's relationship with blogs, Twitter
The Australian headline:
'Blogosphere and Twitter no more than an echo chamber'

18. #grog(s)gate
Geoff Elliott
(The Australian media editor)
'If you are a public servant and blogging
and tweeting, sometimes airing a partisan
political line, do you deserve anonymity? No.
...if you are influencing the public debate,
particularly as a public servant, it is the
public's right to know who you are. It is
the media's duty to report it.'

19. Conclusion
Political blogs still link heavily to mainstream media content,
although variations around events
However, linking not necessarily repeating the work of the
mainstream media, but also building on it, disagreeing,
correcting
Bloggers carrying out particular roles or functions based on
interests/groups
e.g. specialist blogs - able to provide more information,
analysis than traditional media, focus on different perspectives
functions could fit Gans’ second tier concept
#grog(s)gate suggests some mainstream media unsure
of blogging's place in mediasphere?