3. Political blog
A weblog whose main objective, but not
necessarily sole interest, is to examine and
discuss politics
• What Nearly anyone
• Who in the bloggers‘ own domains, interest-
5Ws • Where specific blogging platforms, online
• When mianstream
• Why after the 11 September 2001 terrorist
attacks
blogs are of increasing importance to
the public understanding of politics
5. Why blogging ?
Intrinsic: articulating ideas
• To formulate new ideas
• To keep track of your thoughts
Intrinsic: catharsis
• To let off steam
MrPoliticsGeek
the Independent Voice of the Next Generation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=geuccYHOeu0&list=PL0583CEF9E0CB4E59&index=2&f
eature=plpp_video
6. Why blogging ?
Extrinsic
• To provide an alternative
perspective to the mainstream
media
• To help society
• To inform people about the most
relevant information on topics of
interest
• To influence public opinion
• To help your political party or cause
• To influence mainstream media
• To serve as a political watchdog
• To inform people about the most
recent information on topics of interest
• To critique mainstream media
• To critique your political opponents
7. Why blogging ?
My name is Catherine
Morgan, I'm a writer,
nurse, mother, and
founder of “The
Political Voice of
Women”“. This is a
blog dedicated to
inform and educate
the voting public
through articles,
ideas, and links. It's
also a way of giving
myself a voice, rather
than just sitting back
and watching politics
and my opinion go by.
8. Why blogging ?
promote and help finance
candidates
• Bloggers
• Moneybomb
• $10 million
Scott Brown
9. Why blogging ?
• The initial motivation for blogging is intrinsic
motivations.
• As they continued to blog and their blog posts reached
wider audiences, they realized they could extend
influence out to their audience, the media and political
parties. This newfound influence provided additional
motivation, leading these bloggers to be even more
enthusiastic about what they do.
• But their intrinsic motivations for blogging never fade
away and continue to be important motivators for
blogging.
• They are more motivated to blog now than when they
first started blogging.
14. Why blogging ?
Bias & Objectivity
However…
“people who closely
follow both political
blogs and traditional
news media tend to
believe the content on
blogs is more accurate”
16. Activity:
Compare the following articles and share your answers in
my blog:
As an ordinary reader, which one would you like? Why?
As a professional journalist, any different answer? Why?
Stuck In Place
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/opinion/the-economy-
is-stuck-in-place.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Jobs Continue To Trickle In In July
http://www.watchblog.com/democrats/archives/008073.html
Jobs Or The Lack Thereof
http://www.watchblog.com/republicans/archives/008072.html
