Thursday, October 11, 2007

HW 19: How Important are Blogs to the Media?

My chosen section of the piece, Web of Influence written by Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrell in Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business, and Culture by David Kline and Dan Burstein is about how the blogosphere influences what the media covers. They address how if the blogosphere wasn’t around the media often wouldn’t cover the stories that people are actually interested in. Consider for example in 2004 a writer for WomensWallStreet.com posted online her account of suspicious activity by Syrian passengers on board an airplane she was on and her absolute terror in not knowing whether or not they were a risk to her safety. Even more important 2 million people read her blog and soon thereafter media outlets like NPR, MSNBC, Time, and the New York Times picked up the story and prompted a national debate about the racial profiling that airlines were doing post 9/11. In short whether they like it or not personal opinion and commentary are important things for the media to consider and blogs will have a compelling effect on what the media covers.
http://Womenswallstreet.com

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