The Daily Telegraph's Robert Colvile has picked up on my post about the key findings
from my thesis into whether political bloggers can impact the MSM
agenda. He gives his own perspective on the issues involved at the
paper's Three Line Whip blog.
Robert starts by pointing out that:
"The fact is that, from the outside, the mainstream media (or 'MSM', as
it is referred to in the blogosphere, often as a term of abuse) looks
quite monolithic. But inside, it's made up of hundreds of editors and
writers and reporters, all casting around for things to fill their
pages with."
This
is a very important point to bear in mind. We (bloggers and social
media types) do tend to talk about the MSM as a monolithic institution
when in reality - while this is perhaps true at the organisational
level - like all vast organisms there are undoubtedly sub-layers and
networks of real, human activity which are easily overlooked.
To this I would say of course MSM institutions are built up of
networks in the same way the blogosphere is. The main difference is
that the blogosphere is designed in a way that allows it to be open and
facilitate the opportunities and benefits available to those within the
network. I would argue that the reverse is generally true of
institutional organisations. They tend to want to close down unchecked
and living networks - whether consciously (at a personal level) or
sub-consciously (the inherent bureaucracy present).
Robert also writes:
"The technology makes this process [news gathering] easier for online material, but as
far as I can see the basic approach is the same as usual. Trying to
theorise about it in terms of the formal influence of the blogosphere
on the mainstream media might be, as the great Boris said in another context, 'like trying to pin jelly to a wall'."
Again
he is raises another important point that my research hopefully makes
clear, but which may well not have been made cyrstal clear in my previous post.
The problem with trying to theorise formally is that most - if not all
- formal media theories were created around traditional channels,
whether TV, radio or print media. In fact there are plenty of journal
articles that deal with online media but through the theoretical form
and function of traditional media... I digress.
In my full conclusion I point to the fact that while there is some
evidence to suggest agenda-setting by bloggers, the models used in the
study are all fairly linear - ie. broadcast. I recommend that further
study is necessary to examine the flow of information in a networked
world, possibly through a revised Two-Step Flow theory which
is built around the flow of information to and from the media and
public via 'opinion leaders' - which in this case are be represented by
bloggers.
Anyway. This is all fascinating stuff and hopefully I'll get the chance to explore some of these ideas further.
Robert also has a book coming out shortly on the internet and politics.
Technorati tags: Daily Telegraph, research, politics, media theory
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