Project for Excellence in Journalism

Blogs Continue Islamic Center Debate

September 2, 2010

To a degree not seen in the mainstream press, the controversy over the lower Manhattan Islamic center has touched a raw nerve in the social media. Indeed, Aug. 23-27 marked the third straight week that the intersection of politics, religion, terrorism and 9/11 memories has made the issue one of the top subjects in the blogosphere.

For the week of Aug. 23-27, almost a quarter (23%) of the news links on blogs were about the mosque, making it the No. 1 subject, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That marks the most attention to the topic since the mosque debate emerged among bloggers in early August.

In each of those three weeks, the debate narrative has been somewhat different. The first week was dominated by comments from opponents of building the mosque a few blocks away from the World Trade Center site. The next week, the other side weighed in as mosque supporters led the conversation. And last week, bloggers on both sides of the issue took part in a discussion that was as much about the motives of those having the argument as the mosque itself. Many supporters of the mosque claimed that opponents were motivated by politics or hatred of Islam, while other bloggers suggested that the charges of racism against Muslims were unfair.

The trajectory of the subject in the blogosphere reflects a significantly higher level of attention than in the mainstream press. While the controversy has generated major attention among bloggers for three weeks, the percentage of newshole devoted to the same topic has decreased each week in the traditional press according to PEJ's News Coverage Index.

During the first week the controversy erupted as part of the national discourse (Aug. 9-15), the topic filled only 2% of the mainstream press' newshole. That same week in blogs, however, it was the No. 2 subject, at 18% of the week's links. The next week, Aug. 16-22, the story jumped to the top of both the agenda of the mainstream press (15% of the newshole) and blogs (14% of the links) as it seemed to consume a large amount of the public discussion that week.

Last week, however, as the story reached a high water mark for bloggers, it fell to 6% in the traditional press.

For those in social media, the challenging issues involved in the mosque controversy -- religion, politics and terrorism -- all struck passionate chords and contributed to the staying power of the issue online.

The next top stories on blogs were all domestic issues, most of which had political overtones.

At No. 2, with 15% of the links, was an Aug. 24 Washington Post article about House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) call for a mass firing of the Obama administration's economic team due to their inability to create jobs.

Third, at 12%, was a USA Today report about how budget cutbacks in some cities have forced local law enforcement agencies to cut back their responses to lesser crimes -- to the point where some have asked residents to file their own reports online.

Multiple Washington Post articles previewing talk show host Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally on Aug. 28 in D.C. were fourth at 12%. One was an opinion column by Martin Luther King III contrasting his father's ideology with that of Beck. The other was a news article saying that the rally will be a test of the Tea Party movement's political strength.

Two subjects tied for fifth place on blogs with 6% of the week's links, both of which were among the top stories the previous week. One was an in-depth statistical analysis by the Los Angeles Times that estimated the effectiveness of area school teachers (which was at 13% the previous week).The other subject included several stories about the Obama administration including a Washington Post report about a Pew Research Center poll showing that nearly 20% of the population believes the president is a Muslim -- a subject that finished with 13% one week earlier.

On the social-networking site Twitter, three technology stories were among the most popular topics.

The subject that got the most attention, with 13% of the news links, was the unveiling of Google's new feature allowing users to make phone calls directly from their Gmail inbox. The reviews in the technical press were mostly positive. While a few twitterers reported difficulties, the vast majority expressed excitement about the convenience and low cost of the new application.

Second, at 12%, were several stories about the British economy including a BBC report about a study claiming the new coalition government's first proposed budget featured cuts that would disproportionately impact the country's poorest families.

News that the random video chat website, Chatroulette, was launching a "renewed and updated version" came third at 11%.

That was followed at 9% by a CNET article about Apple's application for a patent that would prevent iPod owners from "jailbreaking" their devices, a technique used to allow users to run applications not approved by Apple. A month earlier, a similar story related to the legal aspects of jailbreaking was an even bigger on social media as it finished second on blogs that week at 10% and fifth on Twitter with 9%

And fifth on Twitter last week, at 6%, was news of a recall of Fruiti Pops frozen fruit bars due to a rare typhoid outbreak.

On YouTube, two international subjects received significant attention: elections in Brazil and the violent end to a hostage crisis in the Philippines.

Continue reading the full report at journalism.org.