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Project for Excellence in Journalism
Blogs Consumed by Egypt News
Bloggers were consumed with the upheaval in Egypt last week, using the platform to relay news updates, provide context to the crisis and debate the implications of the situation.
From Jan. 31-Feb. 4, fully 57% of the news links on blogs were about the unrest in Egypt, marking only the second time in the past nine months that a subject has garnered that much attention, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. (The shootings in Arizona that severely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords also received 57% of the links the week of Jan. 10-14.)
Indeed, the Egyptian crisis last week became the third-largest international story tracked by PEJ since it began the NMI in January 2009. The only overseas topics to surpass it were the UK elections in May 2010 and the protests following the disputed Iranian elections in June 2009.
Bloggers' interest in the story mirrored that of the mainstream media last week, where it accounted for 56% of the newshole, according to the News Coverage Index.
A number of bloggers stepped into the role of news provider as much if not more than news commentator. They relayed up-to-the-minute reporting about the protests, through links to mainstream news outlets or nuggets of information gleaned from a variety of social media.
For many who used the blogosphere as a space to discuss the ramifications of events in Egypt, two major questions emerged. Was the potential revolution in Egypt a positive or negative development? And should President Bush or President Obama get the credit or blame for the developments in the region?
The other major subjects on blogs last week were a mix of journalism, an international conflict, and a unique meteorological tradition. Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, was the second-biggest subject, at 12% of the links. Third, at 7%, was a Jan. 21 opinion column by the Washington Post's Dana Milbank declaring that he was refraining from writing about or mentioning Sarah Palin for the entire month of February. At No. 4, with 5%, was a BBC report about a drone flown by the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah over Israel in response to what it says was a violation of Lebanese airspace by an Israeli aircraft. That was followed (at 4%) by news that Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder was considering legal action against a local weekly publication, the Washington City Paper, for writing a critical story about his tenure as owner of a professional football team that has posted a record of 10 wins and 22 losses in the last two years. (Snyder subsequently filed the suit.)
On the social networking site Twitter, where the news agenda is often technology heavy, there was a more diverse mix last week with two top stories about health care and one about the death of a well-known composer.