Apathy among the general public
regarding politics and government is relatively high here in America, as
opposed to other countries. So, I was surprised to see that ‘U.S. politics and
government affairs’, the highest category, contributed to 17% of blog stories,
2% higher than traditional press. Then it occurred to me that it actually makes
complete sense.
Most of these politically based links, as a result of the research being done in 2009, revolve around the recently elected President Barack Obama. The 2008 election resulted in many milestones, one being that 66% of young people voted for the Democratic candidate, the most since presidential exit polling began in 1972. Young people, of course, are also more prone to use electronic means of information gathering, readily disposable at their fingertips. I believe the higher politics percentage in the blogosphere can be attributed to young people using technology that are enthusiastic about the most recent election and the new president, for which they voted for.
It also seems rather logical that 10% of the blog topics were regarding technology, while the traditional press contributed 1% of their overall news stories to technology. Again, younger people, who generally make up the blogosphere, I would assume to be more interested in technology, while older generations do not.
I think the most interesting debate surrounding the New Media, Old media article, is, as more and more news outlets turn to electronically based outreach, will the trends of topics stray even further from that being covered in the traditional press? Or, with the decline of the traditional press, will new media be forced to reconcile the generation gap and deliver news more applicable to all generations? Or, have the topics covered in the news forever been changed by the blogosphere?
Keeter, Scott. "Young Voters in 2008 Election." Pew Research Center. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1031/young-voters-in-the-2008-election.
Lardinois, Frederic. "Age, Gender, Location: The Demographics of the Blogosphere." Read Write Web. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/age_gender_location_blogosphere_demographics.php.
Most of these politically based links, as a result of the research being done in 2009, revolve around the recently elected President Barack Obama. The 2008 election resulted in many milestones, one being that 66% of young people voted for the Democratic candidate, the most since presidential exit polling began in 1972. Young people, of course, are also more prone to use electronic means of information gathering, readily disposable at their fingertips. I believe the higher politics percentage in the blogosphere can be attributed to young people using technology that are enthusiastic about the most recent election and the new president, for which they voted for.
It also seems rather logical that 10% of the blog topics were regarding technology, while the traditional press contributed 1% of their overall news stories to technology. Again, younger people, who generally make up the blogosphere, I would assume to be more interested in technology, while older generations do not.
I think the most interesting debate surrounding the New Media, Old media article, is, as more and more news outlets turn to electronically based outreach, will the trends of topics stray even further from that being covered in the traditional press? Or, with the decline of the traditional press, will new media be forced to reconcile the generation gap and deliver news more applicable to all generations? Or, have the topics covered in the news forever been changed by the blogosphere?
Keeter, Scott. "Young Voters in 2008 Election." Pew Research Center. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1031/young-voters-in-the-2008-election.
Lardinois, Frederic. "Age, Gender, Location: The Demographics of the Blogosphere." Read Write Web. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/age_gender_location_blogosphere_demographics.php.
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