Project for Excellence in Journalism

Blogs: Don't Give War a Chance

November 11, 2010

Amidst mainstream press headlines of an angry and divided electorate, the blogosphere last week suggested there is at least one thing people across the political spectrum agree on: going to war with Iran to boost the U.S. economy is a troubling idea.

During the week of Nov. 1-5, bloggers across the board roundly rejected that kind of strategy. The idea came in an Oct. 31 column by David Broder and attracted more than a third (35%) of the news links on blogs that week, making it the No. 1 subject according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

In the piece headlined "The War Recovery," Broder -- a longtime Washington observer with generally moderate views -- wrote about ways that President Obama could bounce back from a difficult 2010 election to win a second term. Although Broder wrote he "was not suggesting that the president incite a war to get re-elected," he also declared that if Obama spends the next two years "orchestrating a showdown with the [Iranian] mullahs ... this will help him politically" and the "economy will improve."

Online criticism of Broder's piece produced a kind of blogosphere bipartisanship and unanimity rarely seen on crucial political and policy issues. Some argued that the idea of starting a war for political or economic reasons was immoral. Others offered that if additional government spending would help the economy, the spending could be on things like infrastructure rather than military conflict

The second-biggest subject on blogs last week, with 17% of the links, was the Nov. 2 elections and the political consequences for Obama, the overwhelmingly No. 1 story in the mainstream media. While much of the traditional press coverage focused on Washington's changed political landscape in the wake of major Republican gains, the bloggers' conversation focused more narrowly on columns that criticized Obama's performance.

Most of that attention was to a piece by Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, written prior to Election Day. These bloggers, like Krauthammer, were overwhelmingly critical of the president.

Another Washington Post column, this one by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, ranked third, at 13% of all links. In the column, Bernanke explained why the Federal Reserve responded to the economic crisis with "strong and creative measures." The complex discussion that followed in the blogs split between those who feared Bernanke's actions would lead to inflation and those who supported the more aggressive federal response.

The No. 4 subject, with 10% of the links, was the Oct. 30 "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" in Washington, D.C., led by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The rally, which drew about 200,000 people according to some estimates, received mixed reviews. Some bloggers supported Stewart's vocal criticism of the news media and polarizing politicians while others felt it was nothing more than a liberal gathering in disguise. The same rally was also popular on YouTube, with Stewart's closing speech being the third most-popular clip last week.

The No. 5 story on blogs, at 8%, was a BBC report about a female boa constrictor snake that scientists claim had 22 baby snakes with no father, thus making them "virgin births."

On the social-networking site Twitter last week, all five of the top subjects focused on tech news and were based on reports from the website Mashable.

The No. 1 story, with 11% of the links, focused on a new feature for Microsoft's Hotmail, which will allow users to receive and send emails from other email addresses, including ones from Gmail or Yahoo Mail. According to Mashable, Hotmail is the most popular email service, but it is facing competition from others such as Google and Yahoo.

A report about a new ad for T-Mobile's wireless network that makes fun of AT&T's slower network speed was second at 9%.

At 7%, the third story alerted fellow Twitter users to a new mode for the iPhone game, Fruit Ninja. The popular game allows players to smash imaginary fruit on their phone's screen.

That was followed by a report (at 7%) that Apple is planning on tripling the length of iTunes' music previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds, and a preview of Dell's new tablet computer, the Inspiron Duo, which will feature a full QWERTY keyboard (also at 7%).

Continue reading the full report at journalism.org.