Beyond Agenda Setting: The Role of Political Blogs as Sources in Newspaper Coverage Kevin Wallsten Department of Political Science California State University, Long Beach kwallste@csulb.edu

The Influence of Political Blogs Election campaigns (Bloom & Kerbel, 2007; Trippi, 2004; Williams et al., 2005) Relationship between representatives and constituents (Auty, 2005; Coleman, 2005; Ferguson et al., 2006; Sroka, 2006) International affairs (Drezner & Farrell, 2004b; McKinnon, 2007; Zuckerman, 2007)

Survey Evidence

Survey Evidence

Other Survey Evidence Loechner (2007) Brodeur & MarketWire (2008) 84 percent of journalists said they would or already have used blogs as a primary or secondary source for their articles Brodeur & MarketWire (2008) Over 75 percent of reporters regularly check in with blogs to get story ideas, story angles and insight into the tone of an issue Davis (2009) Reporters are familiar with a large number of popular blogs but are more likely to read liberal blogs than conservative blogs.

Issue Specific, Non-Survey Evidence Downing Street Memo Schiffer (2006) War in Iraq Heim (2008) 35 Issues from 2004 Campaign Wallsten (2007)

Questions about Blog Influence Over Media Are journalists influenced by a large number of political blogs from all sides of the political spectrum? Do political blogs influence media coverage on a wide array of important political issues? How do journalists incorporate the information they read on political blogs into their reporting on political events? If bloggers are quoted or cited, how prominently are these quotes and citations featured in news reports?

Measuring Print Media References What time frame? January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2008

Measuring Print Media References Which print outlets to search in? National newspapers The New York Times Washington Post Washington Times American Wire Service Associated Press

Measuring Print Media References Which blogs to look for? Focus on popular political blogs Karpf’s Blogosphere Authority Index (BAI) The Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem

Measuring Print Media References How to find references to these blogs? Blog title, URL and the words “blog” or “website” Examples: “instapundit” AND “blog” or “website” “Daily Kos” OR “dailykos” AND “blog” or “website”

Questions How often are blogs used as sources? Which kinds of blogs are most used? Which specific blogs are most referenced? How prominently are blogs featured? What issues are they referenced in?

Print Media References to Popular Political Blogs

Print Media Mentions by Blog

Print Media References to Blogs by Type

Print Media References to Blogs by Issue

Summary of Findings Most quote and/or cite information from blogs Power-law distribution of citations 80-20 rule More popular blogs appear to be more frequently cited Liberal blogs far more likely to be cited Daily Kos, Huffington Post and Wonkette are most popular Particularly important for election coverage

Future Research Broadcast coverage? Blog popularity: cause or effect of coverage? What causes blog references? A new tune or the same old song?