In the past, when people wanted to get an inside look at certain subjects or topics, they would rely on columnists in newspapers, specialist magazines or tell-all books. Now, however, they are increasingly looking toward what bloggers have to say.
Blogging really took off when some individuals started revealing the internal affairs of the companies they worked for. Readers were drawn to these insiders for a number of reasons: The company in question was very controversial, such as Wal-Mart, and people hoped to find some dirt that they could use against the company. Or the corporation was the envy of many in the same industry, e.g., Microsoft, and they hoped to get their hands on some inside information they could use to their own advantage.
Soon, we saw the rise of political blogging. In the United States, for example, some political bloggers have become celebrated pundits with a lot of clout – not only among their readers, but in politics. Dan Rather, of CBS News, lost his job as a result of concerted blogging action.
But with the rise in status and power of political bloggers, one cannot help but try to define what political blogging should be all about: Should political bloggers be impartial or driven by their affiliation with a certain party?
The most powerful group of political bloggers in Canada is the Blogging Tories, an association of conservative-minded bloggers, including members and officials of the Conservative Party of Canada. Not only is it the one blogging group that has seen the fastest growth, it is also the group that is often credited with swaying public opinion in favor of the Conservatives in the last federal election in Canada, which the Conservatives won. After all, the Blogging Tories website does claim that its affiliated blogs are collectively viewed by 30,000 people every day.
A recent study of Canadian political blogs has shown, though, that most partisan bloggers seem to be missing the point of what it is they are supposed to do. According to the study, which examined conservative, liberal and social-democratic bloggers, most of them do not write positive stories about their own parties, but, instead, spend most of their time and energy attacking, criticizing and denigrating the leaders and politicians of other parties. In short, the Canadian political blogosphere is filled with a lot of negativity.
Article comments
1 - Sisyphus
"Should political bloggers be impartial or driven by their affiliation with a certain party?"
There should be no "should." It is an individual, personal preference for the blogger and reader alike. Down with conformity! :)
2 - Deano
I suspect that one reason for the popularity of political blogs is that they are NOT impartial or mainstream. Many people actively seek out, for lack of a better term, "fellow travelers" - both to confirm their own beliefs, to find support and to link up with others.
One of the problems that ensue is that after a time, both bloggers and regular blog readers tend to form almost tribalistic groups that actively seek to punish disagreement and dissension. Many political blogs end up slowly metastizing into bastions of intolerance, rampant single-mindedness and partisanship, allowing no other opinion or even a suggestion of balance.
At this point many newcomers to the political blogs are either turned off, tune out, drop their active participation with comments and/or feedback or are pushed out to less radical alternatives.
I enjoy reading political blogs for the variety of opionion and the alternative view on various subjects but I am reluctant to comment often due to the tremendous intolerance, the personal attacks and the rabid narrow-mindedness of many of the more active participants who equate difference of opinion with an attack on everything they hold as sacred. Discussions degenerate into nasty vicious partisan attacks with with little value beyond the occasional bit of unique invective.
I am left to wonder if the blogging revolution will, like all revolutions, inevitably eat its children...