Project for Excellence in Journalism

Japan, Global Warming Top Blogger Agenda

April 14, 2011

Last week, bloggers focused on two subjects that have resonated in social media before. One, the recovery efforts in Japan, has been a major topic three out of the last four weeks. The other, the climate change debate, is a subject that galvanized bloggers a year ago, but has receded since.

From April 4-8, 28% of the news links on blogs were about the fallout -- literally and figuratively -- from the earthquake in Japan, making it the week's No. 1 subject, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Most of the news continued to be discouraging as bloggers spotlighted reports about bodies found at a nuclear power plant and high radiation levels measured nearby. And there was plenty of skepticism about whether Japanese citizens were being told the truth about the catastrophe. A report that Japan's Red Cross had raised $1 billion, but had yet to distribute any money to victims, drew particular interest and sparked a conversation about ways to find trustworthy charities.

The bloggers' continued high level of interest in the earthquake stands as something of a contrast to the mainstream media, which were fixated on Beltway budget fights and devoted only 7% of their coverage to the continuing problems in Japan last week.

The second-biggest story, at 25%, was global warming. Specifically, bloggers focused on the surprising congressional testimony from physics professor, and long-time skeptic of climate change science, Richard Muller. While Muller was expected to present research in opposition to the prevailing views on global warming, Muller instead stated that his work supported the scientific consensus that a warming planet is a significant trend.

Liberal bloggers and defenders of climate change science had a field day with that unexpected turn of events.

The subject of global warming has repeatedly been of great interest to social media users. Muller's testimony received virtually no coverage from the traditional press last week, but this marks the 13th time that the subject has ranked among the top five in a given week since PEJ began the NMI in January 2009.

In particular, global warming was a major topic of conversation among bloggers in December 2009, when skeptics seized on the "Climategate" scandal, when leaked emails from a British climate laboratory raised questions about whether or not weather data had been manipulated. Generally speaking, those who argue against climate change science have dominated these conversations.

Last week, however, it was the supporters of climate change science who had the louder voices.

The No. 3 story (at 10%) was a much-discussed April 1 Washington Post column by Richard Goldstone, the chair of the United Nation's fact-finding mission on the Gaza war of 2008-09. Goldstone concluded that his earlier report, accusing both Israel and Hamas of war crimes, was based on incomplete information. In the column, he concluded that Israel did not have a policy of indiscriminately targeting civilians during the conflict.

Most of the blogosphere reacted by defending Israel and many claimed that Goldstone's original report had unfairly damaged that nation's reputation.

The low-key launch of President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign was the fourth biggest subject at 7%. And news that the Obama administration will not pursue civilian trials for several 9/11 suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but will have them tried by a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, was the fifth-largest subject at 5%.

On the social networking site Twitter, the top five subjects involved technology -- either the business side or how technology is impacting people's daily lives.

The top subject, at 10% of the links, was about Google's attempts to utilize the popular video-sharing site, YouTube, which is also part of the weekly NMI. Stories about the business aspects of Facebook, including an advice column on how to land a job working for the online giant, were second at 8%.

The most-viewed news video on YouTube last week was an international soccer match turned bad.

Continue reading the full report at journalism.org.