Exploring political blogs as a form of alternative media

Abstract

It has been argued that blogs, as an extension of 1960s ‘new journalism’, have become an important form of alternative media. At their idealized best, blogs have the capability to report news without the constraints of censure or the pressures of advertising. This argument suggests that blogs can therefore offer a deeper analysis, based upon a diverse range of sources and contributing citizen commentators, which is not possible through modern corporate, mainstream outlets. This exploratory study uses both critical discourse and content analysis to examine 344 posts, 1,712 hyperlinks and 10,401 comments from four political/current events blogs within a seven-day period. This research argues that previous conceptualizations of alternative media, at least in relation to the political/current events blogosphere, might need reconsideration