Communication Research - Assignment Example

The authors, through extensive literature review, have supported the capability of blogs as the new channel of reporting news without the added pressure or constraints of censorship or advertising which often tend to limit / restrict the scope of conventional news media. With this argument the authors have claimed that blogs are relatively better and more reliable source of news since they have the ability and the resources to offer deep and unbiased perspective and analysis of any given situation through modern corporate and mainstream outlets.

In order to substantiate their claims the authors have used critical discourse analysis and content analysis whereby a total of 344 posts, 1712 hyperlinks and 10,401 comments from diverse types of blogs including those featuring political and current events over a period of one week. Constructs used: The key constructs used in the study include - blogs as an extension of 1960s ‘new journalism’; the capability of blogs to offer unbiased news without the constraints of censorship and the pressures of advertisers; and the manner in which current event blogs interconnect with mainstream and alternative media.

The key hypotheses tested include: H1: Political news blogs will link to alternative news sources more than to mainstream news sources H2: Political news blogs will link to opposite-minded current event blogs more than they link to like-minded blogs H3: Political news blogs will link to unofficial sources, such as personal websites and blogs, mainstream and alternative news blogs and alternative news sources more than to official sources, such as government websites and mainstream outlets Operational definitions: Mainstream news sources – are described to include conventional forms of media which are formulaic, reductive, and created with an intention to maximize viewership through pack-journalism.

Alternative news sources – are described as any new media produced by non-commercial sources and created / operated with the purpose of challenging and critiquing the existing power structures Official news sources – are described in this study, to include government websites and mainstream outlets Unofficial news sources – are described in this study to include personal websites and blogs Research Method: The key objective of this study was to substantiate the key hypotheses listed in the study and establish the superiority, legitimacy and credibility of new emerging forms of blogging especially current event and political news blogging over the mainstream journalism.

For this purpose the method chosen by the researchers was critical discourse and content analysis whereby a total of 344 posts, 1,712 hyperlinks and 10,401 comments from four political/current events blogs within a seven-day period were analysed. The blogs used for this study were chosen through Tailrank - a meme tracker that uses advanced algorithm to rank blogs, and suggests recommendations based on a range of factors. Considering the type of this research, the research tool used for selecting blogs via the news tracking device such as Tailrank is apt.

Research has supported the credibility of such