Blogs, Civility and Mosh-Pit Politics

If the current health care “debate” is an indicator of the health of the body politic, then we are sick puppies indeed.  Town hall meetings, the basis of democracy in colonial America, have devolved into shouting matches more reminiscent of episodes of the Jerry Springer Show (my favorite recent title: “I cheated on my cousin [...]

The Revolution will be Twittered? Maybe not.

When massive protests broke out in the wake of the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, many in the mainstream media,blogosphere and Twittersphere were quick to credit Twitter and other social media such as Facebook, Flickr and YouTube for helping mobilize the protesters as well as for presenting the reality of the protests to the [...]

Journalism Blogs: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The Spring 2009 issue of Newspaper Research Journal had two articles on blogging that seemed to send very different messages.  The first, by former SIUC student Brad Schultz and former Texas Tech and SIU colleague Mary Lou Sheffer, examined how newspaper managers viewed blogs.  The managers had a generally positive  attitude toward blogs, saying they [...]

Red Media, Blue media: Internet and polarization

The Battle between Blue State and Red State ideals is being played out on the lawns on Lubbock in advance of today’s election deciding whether or not packaged liquor can be sold in convenience stores throughout the city or remain restricted to the Las Vegas style strip (minus the gambling, prostitutes, and entertainment) located on [...]

Christmas in April: Internet in the 2008 election

Have you ever received a box of Christmas presents after New Years Day?  All the Christmas decorations have been put away (well, not necessarily in our house–that is what Groundhog’s Day is for) and you are thinking more about the national championship game rather than whether Aunt Edna will send you yet another reindeer sweatshirt [...]

Do Online Journalists Get it?

In conjunction with the release of the gloomy State of the News Media 2009 report, the Project for Excellence in Journalism also interviewed 300 members of the Online News Association. The news from online journalists, not surprisingly, was not as bleak as from legacy journalists: They reported less bloodletting on the online staff, they were [...]

There are a LOT of Facebook addicts out there

I have talked only half in jest about needing an intervention to keep off of the Internet, particularly social network sites. It is 6 p.m. on a Friday and I am still at work blogging. But according to two recent studies, one by Netpop and the other by Insightexpress, I am definitely not alone. The [...]

All atwitter over Twitter

My colleague Sam Bradley is a Twitter evangelist, using it regularly to follow the news, connect with people in the advertising industry and to stay connected with friends.  I am just a member of the flock, using it to follow some of the leading social media researchers, giving an a occasional update and frankly using [...]

Agenda Setting in the Internet Age

Agenda setting was suppose to be a theory that would suffer a serious hit from the emergence of the Internet.  A basic assumption of the theory is that those who don’t receive information either first hand through direct experience or second hand through talking with others would need to rely on the media to tell [...]

Nothing is rotten in the state of Denmark

I am going to take a break for at least a week from blogging to attend the Association of Internet ResearchersInternet Research 9.0 conference. I will report on the conference when I return to Lubbock. Vi ses!

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