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The e-Rise and Fall of Social Problems:
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena

By Ray Maratea, University of Delaware

Social problems theory has yet to fully address the impact that new communication technologies are having
on the claims-making process. This article examines the emergence of the blogosphere as a cultural phenomenon
that provides claims-makers with a powerful new public arena to advance social problem claims. Using Stephen
Hilgartner and Charles Bosk’s (1988) public arenas model of social problem construction, blog-generated prob-
lem claims are examined to analyze how Internet driven social problems compete for public attention. Findings
suggest that blogs make the claims-making process more efficient, offer expanded carrying capacity compared to
traditional arenas, and provide outsider claims-makers with greater opportunity to have a voice in social problems
construction. Still, only a small number of blogs have become recognized as claims-making arenas; they still
rely on traditional principles of selection; and bloggers face the same competition for mainstream media attention
as claims-makers using traditional arenas. Keywords: blog, blogosphere, Internet, new media, public arena.
Mainstream news media maintain a gatekeeping function that serves to control the flow
of information to audiences. Some claims find it harder to gain media access or to receive
coverage (Jacobs 2000). In recent years, proponents of the Internet have proclaimed that
new media technology will lead to a democratization of mass media (Rodman 2003). Since
the deregulation of the Internet in 1995, users have quickly adapted to and become engaged
in an online environment that can transmit large volumes of information in real time for relatively
low cost (Plant 2004). The expansion of mass media into cyberspace has already created
countless new sources for news: Web sites presented by the mainstream press and sites
unique to the Internet, including search engines, message boards, and blogs, may have the
potential to diffuse the gatekeeping function of traditional media, thereby altering their
agenda-setting function (Williams and Delli Carpini 2004). In particular, the emergence of
the blogosphere as an Internet-based claims-making arena may profoundly affect the process
of social problems construction.
This article expands Stephen Hilgartner and Charles L. Bosk’s (1988) public arenas
model of social problems construction by exploring how the blogosphere increases the overall
carrying capacity for problem claims, expands the opportunities for outsider claims-makers to
promote social problems, and provides new avenues through which insider and secondary
claims can be disseminated. Analysis of social problems constructed, in part, through claims
made by bloggers also serves to verify the findings of Sheldon Ungar (1992) and Jerry Williams
and R. S. Frey (1997) that dramatic real world events serve as focal issues that enhance audience
receptiveness of problem claims.
1
Still, while blogs provide novel arenas where problem
1. Ungar (1992) defines real world events as occurrences that “unleash authentic social scares for claims-making
activities to command concerted attention in public arenas” (p. 483). Thus, real world events exist as focal episodes that
claims-makers promote in hopes of allowing the social problems they are advancing to achieve a celebrated status.
The author wishes to thank Joel Best for his help in inspiring this article and providing editorial advice. The author is
also indebted to Ben Fleury-Steiner, David Altheide, Giancarlo Panagia, and the anonymous reviewers for their thorough
readings and helpful comments. Direct correspondence to: Ray Maratea, Department of Sociology, University of Delaware,
322 Smith Hall, Newark, DE 19716. E-mail: rjm@udel.edu.
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claims can be constructed, their viability largely depends upon their meeting Hilgartner and
Bosk’s (1988) principles of selection and being validated by traditional arenas. Although the
Internet may provide an infinite carrying capacity and make the claims-making process more
efficient, it cannot resolve the problem that audiences have limited amounts of time and
attention to focus on various social problems. Furthermore, the blogosphere has developed
according to a hierarchical structure, meaning readers and traditional journalists largely concentrate
their attention on a relatively small number of well-known blogs. In short, the
development of the blogosphere has the potential to dynamically change the claims-making
process, but Hilgartner and Bosk’s public arenas model remains vital to understanding the
rise and fall of social problems in the new media age.
Social Problem Construction in the Public Arenas Model
Drawing on the constructionist perspective that social problems are not simply a reflection
of objective conditions in society but rather the product of collective sentiment, Hilgartner
and Bosk (1988) argue that the emergence of social problems results from a competitive process
in which claims-makers vie for public attention by promoting problem claims in public
arenas.
2
Because each arena’s carrying capacity (e.g., newspaper column space; TV news air-
time) limits the number of claims that can be addressed at any given time, relatively few
issues ever become recognized as social problems (Benford and Hunt 2003; Hilgartner and
Bosk 1988).
3
The result is a social problems marketplace where claims-makers vie for attention
in those arenas that make it possible to disseminate social problems claims to the general
public (Best 1990).
4
This competition results from public attention being a scarce resource
that is allocated through a system of public arenas (Hilgartner and Bosk 1988).
Arenas simply have insufficient carrying capacity to promote every potential social problem.
Hilgartner and Bosk (1988) are concerned with the process by which certain claims succeed in
being labeled as problematic “in the
arenas
of public discourse and action” (p. 70; emphasis in
original). They argue that five selection principles determine which issues are most likely to
be recognized as social problems. First, claims-makers need to present their claims in a dramatic
and persuasive manner. Second, advocates must constantly instill importance into their
claims by producing novel ways to benefit from current events while simultaneously avoiding
problems of saturation that occur when public arenas are bombarded with redundant
messages. Third, social problems have an inherent competitive advantage when political and
economic interests deem them important and adopt their causes. Fourth, the organizational
characteristics of each particular arena affect which social problems are considered newsworthy.
2. Hilgartner and Bosk refer to such social problems arenas as: executive and legislative branches of government,
the courts, made-for-TV movies, the cinema, the news media, political campaign organizations, social action groups,
direct mail solicitations, books dealing with social issues, the research community, religious organizations, professional
societies, and private foundations.
3. Hilgartner and Bosk (1988) note that carrying capacity exists at the arena level through limitations in time,
money, and space that can be allocated for promoting various social problem claims. For example, newspapers are lim-
ited by the availability of column space, congressional committees by the number of hearings that can be held, and private
foundations by the availability of discretionary income.
4. It is important to note that Best (1990) classifies claims-makers as being either insiders or outsiders based on
how closely they are connected with policy makers. Within the public arenas model, insiders have strong and well-
established ties to the policymaking process and therefore are able to advance their claims in nonpublic forums
(Benford and Hunt 2003; Best 1990). Outsiders, such as social movement organizations, face intense competition in
getting their claims recognized, as they must first identify constituents, win their support, and mobilize them into action.
Subsequently, outsiders face the task of competing for the attention of arenas like mass media in order to have their
claims disseminated to the general public. However, because of the media’s constant need for novel material, they are
receptive to the claims of outsiders, which results in intense competition as the number of claims-makers exceeds the
media’s carrying capacity.
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena
141
Finally, problem claims related to broad cultural concerns and preoccupations often resonate
with audiences and become the subjects of collective debate.
Recognition as a social problem is therefore most likely to occur for those issues that best
adhere to the selection principles utilized by public arenas (Hilgartner and Bosk 1988). Additionally, Ungar (1992) and Williams and Frey (1997) note the importance of real world
events as an additional factor that can provide a competitive advantage; problem claims are
more likely to be legitimized when they “piggyback” on dramatic real world events that redirect
mass media attention (Ungar 1992).
5
Real world events provide tangible issues, episodes,
and conditions that claims-makers can diagnose as problematic and then strategically frame,
or actively attach specific meanings to them, in order to mobilize potential allies, garner
bystander support, and minimize the impact of counterclaims (Benford and Snow 2000;
McAdam 1996; Snow and Benford 1988). For outsiders in particular, claims need to be
framed in ways that attract the attention of mass media outlets that can then disseminate
those concerns to the largest audience possible (Benford and Hunt 2003). In effect, claimsmakers
are most likely to be successful when their issues match the selection principles of
public arenas, draw on specific real world events that are dramatic in nature, and are framed
in culturally resonant ways that give them coherence and meaning, thereby influencing both
individual and collective action (Beisel 1993; Binder 1993; Gamson and Modigliani 1989;
Gamson et al. 1992; Gitlin 1980; Hilgartner and Bosk 1988; Snow et al. 1986; Ungar 1992;
Williams and Frey 1997). Should claims-makers succeed in this competitive process and
manage to get their issues recognized in one public arena, their claims are more likely to
spread rapidly to other arenas, receive widespread attention as celebrated social problems,
and ultimately “come to dominate not just one arena of public discourse but many” (Hilgartner
and Bosk 1988:67).
The Evolution of Media Culture
The ways in which issues are framed not only affect news content (Altheide 1995;
Altheide 2002; Altheide and Snow 1991; Couch 1984; McLuhan 1960), but also shape the
public’s perceptions of issues, affect the relative importance people attach to social problems,
and are a powerful influence over both public and political agendas (Altheide 2002; Iyengar
and Kinder 1987; MacKuen and Coombs 1981; Snow 1983). In order to accomplish this,
news reports must resonate with audiences; communication must be easily understood
because there is insufficient time to elaborate before attention turns to another subject (Snow
1983). Thus, mass media utilize formats, or strategies for presenting information, that are
unique to particular media and recognizable to the public (Altheide 2002; Altheide and Snow
1991; Snow 1983).
Traditionally, most citizens have little influence on mass media. Individuals are generally
limited to receiving news and information already filtered through the traditional press, and
public opinion commonly reflects the discourse cultivated by mainstream journalists
(Gamson and Modigliani 1989; Iyengar and Kinder 1987; Margolis and Resnick 2000; Shaw
and McCombs 1977). The development of the Internet, however, has led to the creation of a
new media environment in which audiences have seemingly infinite sources of information
and an increased opportunity to actively “enter and interpret the political world” (Kurtz 1998;
Williams and Delli Carpini 2004:1213). While media conglomeration has concentrated the
agenda setting function of the mainstream press to a few dominant corporate news organizations
that tend to produce “uniform content” (Bagdikian 1997:XV), the Internet has created
new conduits through which news can be filtered (Williams and Delli Carpini 2004). In fact,
5. Ungar (1992) also notes that audiences tend to be less receptive to problem claims once concern over the
dramatic event eases.
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the advent of the Internet and the growth of cable and satellite television have fragmented
audiences, provided greater volumes of available information, allowed for information to be
rapidly gathered, retrieved, and broadcast, and increased the ability to target particular messages
to specific consumers (Williams and Delli Carpini 2004). Furthermore, the introduction
of cable news networks that continuously broadcast around the clock has led to a fundamental
change in how stories are reported by fostering a media culture in which information
gathering has become secondary to emphasizing dramatic, visual action (Altheide 2002; Katz
1992). For example, Elihu Katz (1992) notes that during the first Gulf War, news was col-
lected and disseminated to the public so rapidly that it became impossible to analyze the
meaning and accuracy of reports prior to broadcast.
By capitalizing on the entertaining drama of constantly breaking stories at the cost of
providing meaningful contextual analysis, continuous news coverage leaves audiences with a
greater responsibility for understanding and interpreting the significance of media reports
(Katz 1992; Williams and Delli Carpini 2004).
Viewers are able to sit in their own living rooms and “access” the world via satellite. Live television
coverage of Scud missile attacks in progress or of students demonstrating in Tiananmen Square pro-
vide viewers with “real-time” access to events on the other side of the globe. The compression of
time leads to a preoccupation with the immediacy of surface meaning and the absence of depth.
News comes in quotations with ever shorter sound bites . . . the information may be correct or misleading,
but the immediacy of the experience remains in the images one retains (Gamson et al.
1992:386).
The growth of the Internet over the past fifteen years has played a major role in cultivating
this transformation in media culture by providing an outlet through which information can
be rapidly passed to individuals at any hour during the day. However, unlike traditional
media (television, print, radio), the Web makes it feasible for average citizens to disseminate
their own commentaries on mainstream media coverage, political events, or any other issue
of relevance.
The Blogosphere as a Claims-Making Arena
Whereas citizens’ participation in traditional media has generally been limited to one’s
ability to get an op-ed piece published, the Internet has provided cost-effective, easy-to-use
forums, such as blogs, message boards, and search engines, that provide new channels
through which information can be circulated (Gallo 2004; Williams and Delli Carpini 2004).
For example, running a simple keyword search using an Internet search engine can produce
thousands of results, ranging from serious news reports to pornographic Web sites. Blogs
have attained particular significance in recent years because they have provided forums for
“citizen journalism,” exhibited the ability to augment conventional news reporting practices,
and shown the potential to impact the process of social problems claims-making by acting as
a “conduit through which ordinary and not-so-ordinary citizens express their views . . . and
influence a policymaker’s decision making” (Drezner and Farrell 2004:34; Gallo 2004).
6
Periodically updated journals, blogs are structured in the form of “posts,” or individual
entries of news or commentary in reverse chronological order that represent a rolling record of
the author’s thoughts (Blood 2000; Drezner and Farrell 2004).
Although devoid of any professional
editing, bloggers are responsible for deciding what to post and overseeing the content of
each individual entry (Kumar et al. 2005). Proponents have argued that blogs symbolize the
6. The existence of blogs has been traced back to 1997 when only a handful of such sites existed. However, their
growth became more rapid after 1999 when the first free do-it-yourself software for making Web logs was released to
the public (Blood 2000; Jenson 2003). The total number of blogs in operation has grown from approximately 50 in
1999, to an estimated 2.4 to 4.1 million in 2004 (Drezner and Farrell 2004).
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena
143
growth of the democratic global village because they are cost effective and can be operated by
anyone with a computer and an online connection (Drezner and Farrell 2004; Grossman
2004b). Still, only a small percentage of people currently use blogs to acquire information; few
bloggers have succeeded in building substantial readership and exerting a measure of influence
on the agenda-setting authority of the mainstream press (Drezner and Farrell 2004; Grossman
2004b; Rodman 2003). Even the largest and most prominent blogs have niche audiences that,
by comparison to traditional media outlets, are comparatively small.
7
The question, then, is how has the blogosphere gained prominence when relatively few
people utilize blogs as a source of news? The emergence of the blogosphere as a claims-making
arena may be attributed to several factors: a hierarchical structure in which only a select few
influential blogs have attained mainstream media credibility; the capability to rapidly disseminate
information at any time during the day; an increased carrying capacity to support problem
claims; the ability of bloggers to legitimate their claims through outside verification; and
the circulation of claims through personalized narratives that require little actual gathering of
information but are suited for the audiences of tight-knit blogging communities.
Hierarchical Structure of Blogosphere
The blogosphere has developed a hierarchical structure that functions as a filtering
mechanism through which only a small number of blogs have emerged as prominent
(Drezner and Farrell 2004); these elite blogs are generally measured by their ability to attract
larger and more influential audiences. According to Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrell
(2004), blogs that are hyperlinked by other sites are more likely to increase readership, thus
creating “a skewed distribution where there are a very few highly ranked blogs with many
incoming links, followed by a steep falloff and a very long list of medium- to low-ranked
bloggers with few or no incoming links” (p. 35). Table 1 shows that very few blogs average
over 100,000 daily hits; in contrast, almost 90 percent receive fewer than 100 hits per day
(Lenhart and Fox 2006).
8
This select group of elite blogs has gained national significance, in
part, because they have generated “high-profile” readerships, including politicians who view
them as “insider” publications, similar to trade magazines or political newsletters, and mainstream
journalists who peruse blogs in order to gauge the range of opinions on any given
political issue (Drezner and Farrell 2004; Reynolds 2004:61).
9
While the vast majority of
blogs will never affect mainstream media coverage, these few prestigious blogs have become
7. According to a 2005 survey conducted by the Pew Internet Trust, only 27 percent of Internet users read blogs;
at the same time, approximately 62 percent of Internet users report being unaware what the term blog means (Rainie
2005; Ray 2005). The vast majority of non-Internet users in the United States are more likely to be unsure of the function
of blogs, and blog creation and readership is probably even less prolific in foreign countries where Internet access is
less common than in the United States.
8. There are likely several drawbacks to existing means of assessing the influence of blogs: being blogrolled by
other sites does not guarantee that claims will generate mass media interest; any blogs not included in existing tracking
databases will not be considered, regardless of whether they are influential or not; the blogosphere is full of “niche”
blogs that cater to specific interests; and, since the influence of blogs in gaining mass media attention is generally event
specific, blogs may only achieve prominence on influence tracking lists after they have been successful in having a problem
claim picked up by the mainstream press. For example, the blog
Little Green Footballs
(see Table 1) ranks at the bot-
tom of the Blogstreet list of the top-100 most influential blogs; however, the site achieved prominence for being at the
forefront of breaking the Rathergate scandal (www.blogstreet.com). Thus, while the
Little Green Footballs
blog may have
exerted more authority within the blogosphere following the Rathergate scandal, its influence in affecting news agendas
has been generally limited to that single event.
9. Although further research is needed, we can speculate that several factors may contribute to a blog attaining
elite status: bloggers who are the first to make claims about particular social problems may be viewed within the blogosphere
as leading voices on those issues; elite bloggers may have insider connections with mainstream journalists and
public officials; elite status is likely correlated to the attention a blog receives from traditional news outlets; within the
blogosphere, elite blogs are probably viewed as trustworthy sources of information; and finally, we may expect that
there is a certain element of randomness that contributes to a blog achieving elite status.
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valuable arenas that make it possible for outsider claims-makers to distribute problem claims
and influence news agendas.
Speed of Transmission
While some have argued that the blogosphere is revolutionary because it makes “the
price of entry into the media market minimal” (Sullivan 2004:37), more important may be
the speed with which blogs, and Internet technology in general, allow information to be disseminated.
For example, half a million people downloaded a video of the decapitation of
Nicholas Berg, an American in Iraq, by Islamic terrorists, within 24 hours of it being posted
on the Web site
Consumption Junction
(Harmon 2004:A12). Because bloggers have the ability
to update their sites throughout the day, they can make far more claims public faster than
would otherwise be possible. So, while the traditional press still functions as the primary
gatekeeper of public discourse, the Web has provided individuals with the opportunity to cir-
culate information and opinion to worldwide audiences so quickly that journalists and politicians
have, at times, been forced to react to those claims. This new technology has particularly
affected outsider claims-makers because blogs allow them to respond rapidly to important
events without the restrictions of formal editorial oversight, thereby making it possible to
mobilize support—through the ability to reach sympathizers, policy makers, and members of
the press simultaneously—and gain mainstream media attention faster than is possible using
more traditional claims-making methods (Drezner and Farrell 2004).
10
Expanded Carrying Capacity
A distinctive element of blogs is that their carrying capacity can be expanded across the
Internet through networking capabilities like hyperlinking and blogrolling; they are capable
Table 1•
Blogs That Average over 100,000 Average Daily Hits or Page Views and Are Ranked
as Influential Blogs as of March 16, 2006
Blog
Average Daily
Visits
Average Daily
Page Views
Blog Influence
Quotient
Truth Laid Bear
Ecosystem
Daily Kos 558,615719,05953
Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog 356,097416,133—92
Gawker, Manhattan Media News
and Gossip
258,459 320,519—98
Go Fug Yourself 123,525150,513—89
Eschaton 120,382137,747112
Instapundit 119,866136,77121
Crooks and Liars 108,715169,2267018
Michelle Malkin 107,978131,042—2
AMERICAblog 88,128105,344—78
Little Green Footballs 85,662109,590765
Sources: The
Blogstreet
“Blog Influence Quotient” (www.blogstreet.com) rates the influence of blogs based on the number
of other influential blogs that blogroll or link to them;
The Truth Laid Bear
Blogosphere Ecosystem (www.truthlaidbear.
com) ranks blogs by the number of incoming links they receive from other blogs on the list. Average daily visits and
average daily page views data from
Site Meter
(www.sitemeter.com).
10. While blogs lack professional, or institutionalized editorial oversight, there is nonetheless a gatekeeping func-
tion performed by bloggers who are responsible for determining what content is “newsworthy” and deserving of being
posted on their blogs. This “tacit form of control” may in fact conflict with the very democratization of mass media that
bloggers, and Internet proponents more generally, espouse and is worthy of further study (MacDougall 2005:575).
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena
145
of directly connecting readers with any piece of information or data on the Web that supports
the claims being made by the blogger.
11
This suggests that the blogosphere can accommodate
considerable problem diversity, even though most claims will persist as niche concerns with-
out necessarily spreading widely and attaining celebrated status. Still, the carrying capacity of
blogs is not really infinite. As with more traditional arenas, limitations exist in terms of the
costs associated with maintaining an online forum and the amount of time that bloggers can
dedicate to updating their sites with fresh editorials on issues they deem relevant. Further-
more, blogs can carry and promote an increased number of diverse problem claims, but cannot
increase the ability for audience members, and the larger population more generally, to
internalize problems that exist above and beyond their daily concerns (Hilgartner and Bosk
1988). Hence, it is not clear that the ability to disseminate a larger number of claims leads to
additional success in gaining mass media attention, nor does it mean that audiences will be
able to recognize additional social problems.
External Verification
The Internet is a “frontier” where large numbers of people interact at all hours with
relative anonymity (Melbin 1978); users can easily disguise their identities or develop false
personas altogether (Adler and Adler 2006; Castelfranchi and Tan 2002). As with other
Internet arenas, blogs are inherently vulnerable to problems of identity and deception
(MacDougall 2005). Hence, the ability to develop a significant level of trust and credibility
within the blogosphere is likely an important prerequisite to a blog achieving elite status.
Furthermore, even trustworthy blogs are heavily influenced by the shared cultural and
political beliefs of bloggers and their audiences, meaning that problem claims may be other-
wise discounted as little more than partisan mud slinging and rumor. Whereas the tradi-
tional press is generally expected to engage in an adequate gathering and validation of
information prior to reporting news to the public, bloggers are openly partisan, engage
more in fact checking than performing original investigations, and commonly circulate
news and opinions garnered from mainstream media reports and other blogs (Lenhart and
Fox 2006; MacDougall 2005).
12
As a result, problem claims generated in the blogosphere
can benefit from being legitimated by “expert” sources whose knowledge and opinions are
respected. By underpinning the arguments made by bloggers, external verification provides
added legitimacy that their problem claims are more than sheer speculation and partisan
rhetoric.
Communal Nature of the Blogosphere
Whereas mainstream journalists are generally expected to verify the accuracy of their
reports and present their findings in as impartial a manner as possible, blogs are neither subject
to editorial oversight nor required to maintain a veil of objectivity. Hence, the blogo-
sphere is laden with rumor and gossip, making it difficult to separate legitimate reporting
from mere conjecture (Grossman 2004b). While this may serve to delegitimize many of
the claims presented on blogs, it has neither diminished the impact of blogs nor hindered
11. Hyperlinking is unique to the Internet and allows for a Web site to be directly linked to specific content or
data found on any remote site across the Web. A blogroll, on the other hand, is a collection of links to other Web logs
that generally aids bloggers in building affiliations and blogging communities.
12. This is particularly important given MacDougall’s (2005) point that bloggers purport “to have no explicit
agenda other than disseminating information,” and that their blogs “may systematically degrade with time into thinly
disguised partisan platforms, thereby becoming ideological nodes in a network of what on the face . . . appear to be . . .
openly accessed political news and information repositories” (p. 579–80).
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mainstream news sources from occasionally reporting on unsubstantiated claims. Further-
more, blogs have proven particularly effective at stimulating reader interaction and mobilizing
polarized audiences into communities of individuals who share similar beliefs (Jenson
2003; Levy 2002).
Blogs tend to be biased and openly partisan in exactly the way most mainstream news sources
aren’t. Blogs aren’t objective, and they don’t pretend to be. When you read [a blog], you feel as if
you’re part of a community, a like-minded righteous few. It’s as if you’ve stumbled on a sympathetic
haven in a lonely, trackless wilderness on the Internet (Grossman 2004a:110).
Such communal sentiments assure bloggers that they are generally speaking to readers who
share an interest in, and a perspective on, many of the same issues. Furthermore, while data
on readership are somewhat sparse, blogs seem to attract audiences predominantly comprised
of educated white males who make above average incomes and are seasoned Internet
users (Goldfarb and Cillizza 2006; Rainie 2005). In short, blogging communities tend to
develop around shared interests and experiences (Berman 2003); they consist of passionate,
demographically similar individuals engaging in highly partisan debates that build in fervor as
bloggers advance claims relating to decidedly polarized issues. Thus, blogging communities
can be viewed as “small but persistent advocacy groups” that utilize Internet technology to
keep issues alive and generate large blocs of support at speeds faster than could be possible
using traditional, more time-consuming methods, such as direct mail or telephone solicitation
(Hilgartner and Bosk 1988:66).
Blogs’ Dependence on Standard Selection Principles
Although blogging is a relatively new claims-making activity, it still requires participants
to compete against a large number of rival claims for the limited prime space of public arenas
like the traditional press; the influence of blogs tends to fluctuate higher when problem
claims receive mainstream media coverage. This not only serves to explain why bloggers
have been particularly successful when attaching their claims to dramatic real world
events, but also suggests that bloggers benefit from staying ahead of the media curve by
constantly updating their sites throughout the day (Grossman 2004b). Furthermore, claims
generated in the blogosphere obey the same principles of selection as traditional claimsmaking
techniques. As a result, bloggers must place the same premium on presenting their
social problems in dramatic, novel terms that resonate with audiences as those using other
claims-making formats.
Drama
Hilgartner and Bosk (1988) suggest that when the symbols used to frame problem claims
become repetitive, they must be updated or replaced with new ones. Traditionally, claims-
makers develop new strategies to market their issues in order to combat the “boredom” that
emerges when problem claims grow stale and no longer maintain the interest of news editors,
politicians, and other gatekeepers needed to sustain celebrated social problem status
(Hilgartner and Bosk 1988). Since bloggers are able to directly communicate with audiences
and post new or updated claims throughout the day, their problem claims can evolve at an
extremely fast rate. Hence, the ability to rapidly distribute claims using Internet technology,
combined with the fact that bloggers, by-and-large, speak to individuals that share similar
beliefs, has allowed claims produced in the blogosphere to be largely comprised of the simple,
dramatic problem formulations that Hilgartner and Bosk assert are more likely to survive the
competition for mass media attention.
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena
147
Novelty and Saturation
Because bloggers can generate so many problem claims in relatively short periods of
time, Hilgartner and Bosk’s selection principle of saturation remains relevant to claims gener-
ated in the blogosphere. As Hilgartner and Bosk (1988) note, saturation can occur when public
arenas are consistently bombarded with redundant messages about similar issues, leading
to a reduction in the dramatic value of those problems. However, saturation seems to have a
unique effect on blogs: within the blogosphere, inundating audiences with particular issues
appears to, at least initially, build interest among readers and help keep stories alive.
So your blog hasn’t succeeded in getting national attention for your pet issue? Don’t lose heart. Just
blog, link, and repeat. It worked for conservative bloggers like Glenn Reynolds of
Instapundit
, who
trumpeted the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’s claims . . . as well as for liberal blogs like
Daily Kos
,
which investigated evidence that President Bush wore a wire in his first debate. Some of the issues
had questionable merit, but persistent bloggers made the subjects tough to ignore. Say it enough
times online, and someone is bound to hear you (Taylor 2004:111).
The point is that saturation seems to operate differently in the blogosphere than it does in the
mainstream media. Still, the success that bloggers may have in promoting social concerns by
saturating their blogs with problem claims does not diminish the fact that those issues will
lose their novelty if traditional news outlets are inundated with redundant claims. Bloggers
must continually inject urgency into their presentations by finding new ways to capitalize on
current events if they are to achieve and maintain media interest. If nothing else, the overproduction
of problem claims in the blogosphere ensures that there will always be a ready
supply of dramatic and relevant issues that journalists can choose from and strategically filter
to their audiences (Hirsch 1972). However, once those claims are successfully picked up by
the mainstream press, they are bound by the traditional principle of saturation; flooding the
market with redundant messages about similar problem claims will reduce their dramatic
value (Hilgartner and Bosk 1988).
Cultural Preoccupations
Hilgartner and Bosk (1988) note that “widely shared cultural preoccupations and political
biases” influence the selection principles of all institutional arenas (p. 64). Claims that resonate
culturally have a competitive advantage because they are more likely to enter
collective debate and contemplation. Most bloggers are avid consumers of mainstream news
and highly publicized blogs tend to focus on politics and current events (Lenhart and Fox
2006). However, because blogging generally lacks the information gathering function of the
traditional press, postings are often in reaction to issues that have already been established as
culturally significant by journalists. As a result, the blogosphere may ultimately function as a
conduit between “overt political action sites, fora, and news lists and mainstream news outlets”
by providing reporters with a trove of available claims (Bennett 2003; MacDougall
2005:578). Furthermore, journalists may serve as an intermediary between influential blogs
and political insiders by examining “elite blogs to obtain a summary of the distribution of
opinions on a given political issue” (Drezner and Farrell 2004:35). In effect, blogs appear to
be developing a symbiotic linkage with mainstream media and public officials. Even more,
blogs have also been proactively used by insider claims-makers—most notably by Howard
Dean during his 2004 presidential campaign—to mobilize support and are increasingly being
reported on and co-opted by cable news outlets (Barone 2005). Hence, Drezner and Farrell
(2004) and Glenn H. Reynolds (2004) suggest that elite blogs are an important measure of
public opinion on social concerns because outsiders use them as a means of debating issues of
shared importance, while political insiders and journalists read them in order to measure the
cultural significance of current events.
148
MARATEA
Political and Economic Interests
When issues advanced by claims-makers attract the interest of influential political and
economic insiders, their sponsorship can provide an important competitive advantage that
has implications for the possible success of those problems. Should policymakers reject problem
claims, they are unlikely to respond to the concerns of claims-makers, whose issues are
then less likely to maintain social problem status. Accordingly, problem definitions that reso-
nate among politicians as being socially relevant are far more likely to produce legislative
action. Furthermore, economic factors can affect the success of social problems. Periods of
economic expansion provide financial resources needed to address social problems, while
times of recession discourage ameliorative action, as fewer public funds are available and
individuals are less likely to internalize problems beyond their daily concerns.
Organizational Characteristics
The selection and coverage of social issues in the blogosphere is influenced by organizational
characteristics unique to that arena (Hilgartner and Bosk 1988). Compared to newspaper
and television reporting, blogs are relatively cheap to produce. Since bloggers do not
engage in information gathering to the same extent as traditional journalists, coverage of
social issues is unlikely to be influenced by the need to deploy staffs and equipment, divide
reporting into beats, or rely on key sources or informants for information (Hilgartner and
Bosk 1988). Internet technology also provides bloggers with the flexibility to present power-
ful visual imagery such as pictures and video without the expensive production costs associated
with television news. Furthermore, because most bloggers work independently and
publish at their choosing, they are neither restricted by corporate or editorial structures that
may serve to limit content, nor hindered by the stringent deadline and budgetary restraints
associated with mainstream newscasting. However, blogs, like newspapers and television, can
nonetheless exhibit a “strong organizational preoccupation with immediate, fast-breaking
events” due to the speed with which the Web allows for information to be disseminated
(Hilgartner and Bosk 1988:65). Blogs are generally configured as short posts and therefore
limited in the amount of detail that can be presented at any given time. Readers may have to
follow faithfully over an extended period of time, or examine the vast maze of hyperlinks to
other sites in order to get adequate detail or contextual analysis.
Ultimately, bloggers, like mainstream reporters, must decide which issues and events are
newsworthy and deserving of coverage (Gans 1979; Hilgartner and Bosk 1988). Whereas professional
journalists rely on a shared understanding of what constitutes an important event
(Hilgartner and Bosk 1988), bloggers are more likely to write based on personal conviction.
Blogs, after all, are not structured according to any professional format, but rather are scrolling
records of what bloggers feel is important at any given point in time. Since independent blogs
are not professional newsgathering agencies, most bloggers are likely to receive information
about the issues they deem newsworthy directly from traditional media sources (Lenhart and
Fox 2006). Additionally, bloggers are generally responsible for choosing content on their sites,
yet they are more likely than mainstream journalists to be influenced by readers.
13
Blogging is a
highly interactive medium; audiences have a greater opportunity to actively search out issues
that are of specific concern to them and participate via feedback loops, which allow readers to
13. Graber (1988) points out several factors that influence the selection and processing of news by audiences:
information must arouse attention by being deemed interesting, personally or professionally relevant, emotionally
appealing, or socially important; media cues, such as large headlines, attract attention to particular stories; verbal cues,
or keywords, notify audiences to news that is of interest to them; and social environment cues, such as issues of conver-
sation among family, friends, or colleagues, direct attention to news stories related to those topics. While we may
assume that these same factors remain prevalent for news disseminated from Internet sources, further research is
needed before drawing any definitive conclusions.
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena
149
respond directly to specific blog postings and direct electronic communication with bloggers.
As a result, shared understandings of which issues are important are likely to develop within
blogging communities and spread throughout the blogosphere.
Claims-Making in the Blogosphere: Two Case Studies
The Internet has become the vehicle of transmission through which a vast array of problem
claims have been disseminated; numerous issues have come to the fore after being promoted
in the blogosphere and other Web-based arenas. In recent years, bloggers have been
prominent in publicizing many social issues, ranging from torture at Abu Ghraib prison, the
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth charges against John Kerry during the 2004 presidential elec-
tion, the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and more recently, exposing
the sexual assault charges against Duke University lacrosse players. In many ways, blogging is
a dynamic process; a frenzy of competing claims is constantly being circulated through the
blogosphere. While these claims are rooted in general issues, such as media bias or political
corruption, they usually crystallize around specific, often scandalous events that bloggers cite
as evidence of those larger social problems. Two examples of blog-driven social problems are
particularly useful in understanding this process, as well as why some claims originating in
the blogosphere succeed in attaining media attention while others remain niche issues. The
“Rathergate scandal” and the Terri Schiavo “talking points” both involve claims made by con-
servative bloggers that Democrats engage in unethical political tactics and mass media cover-
age is biased. While Rathergate succeeded in becoming a newsworthy event, the Schiavo
talking points had little impact outside of the blogosphere.
The Rathergate Scandal
Problem claims emanating from the blogosphere often adopt clearly identifiable left- or
right-wing positions; blog-driven issues that successfully reach the traditional press are likely to
be ideologically charged, disseminated rapidly, highly partisan in nature, validated by expert
sources, and able to mobilize the audiences of influential blogging communities. The Rather-
gate scandal, which erupted following a September 8, 2004 report by Dan Rather on
60 Minutes
II
questioning President George W. Bush’s military service, is emblematic of this. Based on the
acquisition of four memos that were supposedly written between 1972 and 1973 by Bush’s
then commanding officer in the Alabama Air National Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian,
Rather claimed that Bush was excused from participating in mandatory drills, given higher
marks on his yearly evaluation than he had earned, and suspended from flying following his
refusal to abide by orders and submit to a physical examination (Seelye and Blumenthal 2004).
Occurring in the midst of the fiercely contested 2004 presidential election, the decision
of CBS News to air the Killian memos drew the ire of conservative bloggers, many of whom
accused Rather of trying to undermine President Bush’s reelection campaign. Since Killian
had died in 1984 and the source of the documents was not disclosed by Rather, speculation
that the memoranda were forged began to spread rapidly online. In fact, skeptical bloggers
published their initial claims challenging the authenticity of the memos a mere nineteen
minutes into the original broadcast (Pein 2005). The conservative blog
Little Green Footballs
,
claiming to have “authoritative and definitive” proof that the letters were counterfeit, played
a central role in mobilizing the blogosphere by posting “do-it-yourself” experiments that
were intended to show the files had been produced on a computer (Pein 2005).
14
Initial
14. Do-it-yourself experiments involved replicating the Killian memos using Microsoft Word and then comparing
them to digitized versions of the originals in order to determine whether the documents presented on
60 Minutes II
were
forgeries generated on a computer.
150
MARATEA
mainstream reporting, however, never addressed concerns over the validity of the Killian
memos. For example,
The New York Times
expressly noted that White House communications
director Don Bartlett called the release of the files politically motivated, but never actually
disputed their authenticity (Seelye and Blumenthal 2004). Only when Killian’s family
expressed skepticism and document experts were unable to validate the letters as authentic
did traditional journalists began questioning the credibility of the original CBS report. Hence,
while Rathergate was essentially a Web-driven scandal, initial mainstream media coverage
only infrequently acknowledged the role of bloggers.
The debate surrounding the Killian memos largely centered around three types of evidence:
first, could a typewriter from the early 1970s have produced the typography on the
documents; second, the files were said to contain improper military terminology; and finally,
those who knew Killian expressed concern that he may not have written the letters presented
in the CBS report (Pein 2005). As these issues became galvanized on a national level,
both conservative and liberal bloggers utilized Rathergate as a means of promoting competing
claims of media bias. For right-wing blogs, the scandal demonstrated why the blogosphere
performs an important watchdog function: the prevalence of liberal bias in mainstream
media reporting; an inability or unwillingness of the traditional press to effectively verify the
accuracy of their reporting; and an attempt by CBS News to undermine President Bush’s
reelection campaign.
In the past, most people have assumed that while broadcast networks, wire services like the Associated
Press, and newspapers will occasionally make mistakes, and will certainly spin the news consistent
with their political biases, concern for their reputation in the marketplace, and even more
among their peers, would prevent them from spreading outright falsehoods. In the wake of the CBS
scandal, that assumption must be reevaluated (Hinderaker 2004).
These claims of media bias were particularly effective because they resonated across different
sects of conservatism, serving to mobilize neoconservatives, as well as the social conservative
and civil libertarian audiences of influential blogs like
Instapundit
, into unified consensus on
the issue. Leftist bloggers, on the other hand, claimed the scandal represented a double standard:
Dan Rather was vilified for allegedly inaccurate reporting, while ample evidence that
President Bush failed to fulfill his military obligations was overlooked. Furthermore, they
sought to counter the claims made by conservative bloggers that mainstream media is
wrought with liberal bias.
The funny . . . thing about the CBS/document story is that contrary to the screeching about it, the
entire saga is proof that there is no goddamn liberal media . . . the worst Rather has been accused of
by sensible people is letting partisanship cloud his judgment . . . Without making any statement
about what the appropriate consequences for “Rathergate” should be, it’s clear that the media atten-
tion by that liberal media and the actual consequences have been much greater than dozens of
worse incidents involving clear deliberate deception by people in the media. Dan Rather—evil
biased liberal whose partisanship led him to jump the gun on a story? Believe that if you want, I
don’t really care. But, “Rathergate” proof of “liberal media?” Just the opposite (Black 2005).
The immediate aftermath of Rather’s report on the Killian memos generated diverging
discourses in traditional newspapers from that seen in the blogosphere:
The New York Times
focused largely on “objective” reporting by detailing the facts of the case, the potential implications
for President Bush, and on an “an embarrassing blunder by duped CBS journalists”
who failed to verify the accuracy of the documents in their rush to broadcast the story
(Carter 2005; Glater 2005; Safire 2004a:A23). There was some initial coverage of claims
emerging from the White House that implied questions over Bush’s military record were
“part of a ‘coordinated attack’ by Senator John Kerry” (Seelye and Rutenberg 2004:A17), as
well as those from Democrats who “promised to continue questioning Mr. Bush’s Guard ser-
vice” (Rutenberg and Zernike 2004:A12), but these failed to emerge as a dominant frames.
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena
151
Furthermore, the role played by bloggers was at first downplayed, as doubt from document
experts was attributed to raising questions about the authenticity of the memos.
The debate over President Bush’s National Guard service turned into a furious battle over the minu-
tiae of Vietnam-era typewriter fonts on Friday as CBS News mounted a vigorous defense against
critics who doubted the authenticity of four documents that suggested Mr. Bush had shirked his
duty . . . The report set off debate on Web logs, in newspapers, and on television competitors to CBS
News about whether such documents could have been produced 30 years ago. Some forensic specialists
said the documents appeared to be fakes created by a modern computer because they had
features that could not have been produced on Vietnam-era typewriters (Rutenberg and Zernike
2004:A12).
Although bloggers received some credit for advancing claims regarding the Rathergate scandal,
mainstream media coverage largely occurred after document specialists proclaimed the
Killian memos to be fraudulent. Through these experts, the dominant theme that emerged
in
The New York Times
was that while Dan Rather exhibited poor investigative standards in
reporting the fraudulent Killian memos, CBS News may have ultimately been the “victim
of a whopping journalistic hoax” by a begrudged former National Guard officer who supplied
the fake documents in hopes of “besmearing a president to bring him down” (Safire
2004b:A23).
15
As Table 2 shows, traditional media interest in Rathergate lasted for a relatively short
period of time; the number of news articles related to the scandal in
The New York Times
dropped dramatically after the first few weeks. Conservative bloggers, however, took owner-
ship of the issue (Gusfield 1981), and their persistent hounding in subsequent months—
particularly surrounding the delayed reporting of findings from an internal investigation at
CBS—likely served to keep the story alive. To an extent, this occurred because bloggers
attracted the interest of media organizations by successfully adhering their claims regarding
the Killian memos to the same selection principles that Hilgartner and Bosk (1988) associate
with more traditional claims-making arenas.
First, the suggestion that CBS News had aired fraudulent documents that could potentially
impact the 2004 presidential election proved to be a dramatic and novel claim that bloggers
cast in extremely persuasive terms. The use of do-it-yourself experiments in combination
with the testimony of document experts provided bloggers with the “appearance of common
Table 2•
Distribution of Articles and Blog Entries about Rathergate, by Month,
for
The New York Times
and Select Web Logs (September 8,
2004 – February 28, 2005)
Date
The New
York Times
Eschaton
(Liberal)
Instapundit
(Libertarian)
Power Line
(Conservative)
Sept 2004 3731138107
Oct 2004 0065
Nov 2004 422210
Dec 2004 0074
Jan 2005 1242727
Feb 2005 3365
TOTAL 5640206158
Sources:
The New York Times
(www.nytimes.com),
Eschaton
(atrios.blogspot.com),
Instapundit
(www.instapundit.com),
Power Line
(www.powerlineblog.com)
15. Safire (2004b) did note that the reaction of CBS News to the Killian memos “hoax” was “to shut up sources
and impugn the motives of serious critics—from opinionated bloggers to straight journalists” (p. A23).
152
MARATEA
sense and plain truth . . . and an image of technical expertise [that] become powerful
resources for constructing authoritative presentations” (Gusfield 1981; Hilgartner and Bosk
1988:61). Indeed, bloggers succeeded in advancing their problem claims in a manner that
Hilgartner and Bosk (1988) suggest increases the probability of achieving success: officially
certified “facts” coupled with vivid, emotional, and succinct rhetoric presented in “slick, little
packages that crisply present issues in authoritative and urgent tones” (p. 62).
Second, by capitalizing on a dramatic real world event, bloggers injected urgency into
their presentation of media bias and ineffective fact checking in traditional journalism as a
social problem. This proved novel enough to merit attention even though the mainstream
press generally downplayed the bias frame. Because Rathergate exploded into a scandal and
effectively achieved social problem status in a matter of mere days, saturation was not initially
an obstacle faced by bloggers. However, the decline in mainstream reporting of Rather-
gate in subsequent months suggests that either the bloggers’ claims became too repetitive, or
the dramatic character of the scandal itself simply diminished in value (Hilgartner and Bosk
1988). This may be attributed to the fact that powerful political interests who were initially
implicated in the scandal had no reason to keep the story alive. The reporting of the Killian
memos pressured the White House to respond to the allegations that President Bush had not
adequately fulfilled his military service; questions surrounding their authenticity then compelled
John Kerry and the Democratic Party to refute allegations that they had conspired in
the release of the allegedly fraudulent documents. Since the Rathergate scandal forced both
political factions to defend themselves against potentially damaging claims during an election
year, its continued presence as a national issue served no constructive purpose for either
Republicans or Democrats.
Finally, the organizational structure of news media outlets contributed to the rise of
Rathergate as a public issue. Hilgartner and Bosk (1988) note that novelty closely interacts
with the “organizational characteristics of the institutional arenas that influence the pacing
and rhythm of the display of social problems” (p. 63). Innovative problem claims that are dramatic
in nature correspond to the logic of mass media (Altheide and Snow 1979; Doyle
2003); they can be constructed into compelling, entertaining, and newsworthy stories (Altheide
2002, 2004; Jacobs 2000). Given that media logic in the breaking news age favors
reporting that is “evocative, encapsulated, highly thematic, familiar to audiences, and easy to
use” (Altheide 2004:292), the Rathergate scandal epitomized the fact that extraordinary real
world events are likely to demand “attenuation and issue redirection” (Ungar 1992:483).
Following an internal inquiry, officials at CBS concluded that the
60 Minutes II
report featuring
the Killian memos was aired in haste out of fear that a rival network would beat them
to the story (Glater 2005). Several CBS news executives were eventually pressured into
resigning their positions: the network fired producer Mary Mapes and Dan Rather abruptly
stepped down from his position as evening news anchor (Carter 2005; Steinberg 2005; Steinberg
and Carter 2004). But while the Rathergate scandal came to represent a crystallizing moment
for problem claims originating in the blogosphere, the traditional press still maintained their
important role as secondary claims-makers (Best 1990). In other words, bloggers were successful
in having their claims regarding the Killian memos picked up by news agencies, but
ultimately had little influence over how those claims were subsequently reframed, including
which individuals or groups were principally credited for discovering the discrepancies in the
documents.
The Schiavo “Talking Points”
Advocates of new media technology suggest that the development of the blogosphere,
and the Internet more generally, symbolize that the mainstream press no longer function as
the “institutional regulators” of news, and that journalists are “being held to account as never
before by the strong force of individual citizens who won’t settle for sloppy research and
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena
153
inflammatory comments without foundation” (Hirsch 1972; Seelye, Steinberg, and Gallagher
2005:C1). The blogosphere is ripe with competing claims made by liberal and conservative
bloggers alike that traditional news coverage is shoddy and one sided. The case of Terri Schi-
avo, a severely brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed following a
highly publicized legal battle between her husband and parents, exemplifies how bloggers
use dramatic events to crystallize their problem claims related to larger social problems such
as media bias, political corruption, and euthanasia.
Schiavo became a salient political issue after intervention by Republican politicians
polarized public debate pertaining to right-to-die issues and the intrusion of government
into personal matters. In March of 2005, Congress held a special session to pass legislation
requiring federal courts to review the case in hopes of having Schiavo’s feeding tube
restored, and President Bush signed the bill. Numerous polls indicated that the vast major-
ity of Americans opposed congressional involvement and believed such attempts to keep
Schiavo alive were part of a political agenda (Babington and Fletcher 2005; Meyerson
2005; Stolberg 2005). Still, Republican leaders nonetheless proclaimed that their actions
were principled and designed to “uphold human dignity and affirm a culture of life” (Allen
and Roig-Franzia 2005:A01). These assertions were challenged when ABC News and
The
Washington Post
reported on the existence of an alleged “GOP talking points memo” that
characterized the Schiavo case as a “great political issue” that would excite pro-life constituents
(Allen and Roig-Franzia 2005).
Right-wing bloggers challenged the document’s authenticity and used the issue as a
vehicle to promote claims of media bias and political corruption. The conservative blog
Power
Line
took the lead, arguing that the memo actually tied “in with the Democrat’s talking point
that the Republicans don’t really care about a disabled woman who is being starved to death,
but are seeking political advantage” (Hinderaker 2005b). Given the discord within the
Republican Party over the Schiavo case, conservative bloggers argued it was unlikely that a
memo would be sent out discussing the importance of exciting the “pro-life base.”
The evidence we have so far is not conclusive, but it points in the direction of a dirty trick by the
Democrats . . . In any event, however, the suggestion that the memo is some kind of high-level
Republican strategy memo is ludicrous (Hinderaker 2005a).
Bloggers raised several key issues to substantiate their claims: reporters at ABC News and
The
Washington Post
refused to reveal their “unimpeachable” source and failed to make a copy of
the memo available for examination; when copies of the memo were leaked, they failed to
match the text as reported by news agencies. In particular, the memo was described as sloppily
drafted and neither written on official letterhead nor distributed according to the appropriate
protocol. These assertions were bolstered by a report in
The Washington Times
that none
of the 55 Republican senators had seen the talking points memo that had allegedly been distributed
to them prior to its being reported on by both ABC News and
The Washington Post
(DeBose and Dinan 2005).
Further revelations fueled the bloggers’ claims of media bias. ABC News had described
the memo as Republican talking points both on
World New Tonight
and in a report on the network’s Web site. Additionally, the discovery that the wording in an earlier version of the
Post’s
report explicitly blamed the Republican leadership emboldened bloggers’ allegations that the
coverage of the
Post
and ABC News had been unfair and one sided.
Power Line
went so far as
to proclaim that
The Washington Post
was involved in a “Watergate-style cover-up” (Johnson
2005). However, while conservative bloggers did uncover that reporting may have inaccu-
rately depicted the role played by high-ranking Republican officials, the memo itself proved
to be authentic, originating from a staff member working in the office of Republican Senator
Mel Martinez of Florida. Unlike the Rathergate scandal, where bloggers’ claims that the Killian
memos were fraudulent generated widespread media attention, these revelations barely
affected mainstream news coverage.
154
MARATEA
Despite being labeled by some bloggers as similar to Rathergate, there are several reasons
why claims of media bias and political corruption attached to the Schiavo memo failed
to receive substantial mass media attention even before it became apparent that the document
was indeed authentic. First, the talking points memo was ultimately an ancillary matter
that lacked dramatic value during the Schiavo controversy; the tragic circumstances sur-
rounding Terri Schiavo’s physical condition, the legal battle between her family members,
the question of judicial activism, and the larger moral debate over right-to-die issues were
far more controversial. The dispute surrounding congressional intervention in the Schiavo
case was also heavily reported, but numerous polls indicated that most Americans opposed
government involvement and believed that Republicans had done so as part of a political
agenda (Meyerson 2005; Stolberg 2005). Hence, the memo may have been viewed as a less
salient issue simply because the contents of the document indicated what the majority of
Americans already believed that Republican leadership was attempting to politicize the
plight of Terri Schiavo.
Second, claims that the talking points document was fraudulent and possibly a dirty trick
by Democrats failed to generate widespread media interest, in part, because they did not
seem to resonate within the blogosphere. Whereas the Rathergate scandal crystallized consensus
among conservatives and spawned heated debate among influential blogs, the talking
points memos failed to have the same impact. As Table 3 shows, elite blogs that had been
actively engaged in the Rathergate scandal ignored the talking points dispute. This proved
significant because it not only showed that many conservative and libertarian blogs were not
heavily invested in the issue, but also that elite liberal blogs such as Eschaton chose not to
advance claims that Republicans were using the “talking points” memo to exploit the Schiavo
affair. In effect, a small group of conservative blogs led by
Power Line
took ownership of the
talking points story, but the blogosphere as a whole did not. This suggests that claims may
first need to saturate the blogosphere by resonating across elite blogs; a few influential bloggers
making claims may not be sufficient to attract media attention.
Third, the talking points controversy occurred shortly after the Rathergate scandal,
meaning it is possible that a second story about a potentially fraudulent memo lacked novelty,
especially when bloggers were unable to substantiate their claims with any meaningful
expert testimony. There were no significant indicators, such as the improper military termi-
nology found in the Killian memos, which could be used to gauge whether the talking points
document was fraudulent. Furthermore, bloggers were unable to supplement their claims
that the talking points memo was a fake with verification from expert sources. This lack of
expert endorsement hindered bloggers; their claims were not presented authoritatively as
facts, but rather as speculation reinforced solely by blog readers and anonymous sources that
purported to provide trustworthy insight.
Table 3•
Coverage of the “Talking Points” Memo in
The New York Times, The Washington Post,
and Select Web Logs (March 20 – May 31, 2005)
Date
The New
York Times
The Washington
Post
Eschaton
(Liberal)
Instapundit
(Libertarian)
Power Line
(Conservative)
March 2005* 2 (76)4 (65)0218
April 2005 1 (37)7 (59)2212
May 2005 0 (5)2 (10)001
TOTAL 3 (118)13 (134)2431
Sources:
The New York Times
(www.nytimes.com),
Eschaton
(atrios.blogspot.com), Instapundit (www.instapundit.com),
Power
Line
(www.powerlineblog.com),
The Washington Post
(www.washingtonpost.com).
Note: The total number of articles about the Terry Schiavo case in
The New York Times
and The Washington Post are listed
in parentheses.
The Blogosphere as a Public Arena 155
Finally, the biased nature of political blogs provided a further hindrance. The lack of out-
side verification coupled with speculation that the talking points memo was concocted by
Democrats and reported by a liberally-biased media may have contributed to the perception
that claims made by conservative bloggers were mere partisanship. Similar to the Rathergate
scandal, the mainstream press never acknowledged the claims of media bias. Hence, while
bloggers may claim to be media watchdogs, journalists may view them as political operatives
with a partisan agenda. This, combined with their lack of an investigative, information gathering
function may negatively affect bloggers’ ability to obtain media attention when their
claims lack outside verification and expert endorsement.
Conclusion
The ubiquity of the Internet in everyday life has contributed to dynamic changes in
media culture and illustrates the need for a broader understanding of how the Web is affect-
ing the process of social problem construction. Social problems theory must better address the
burgeoning role of online forums, such as Web logs, message boards, search engines, and
Web sites for traditional news outlets, advocacy groups, and government agencies as influen-
tial claims-making arenas. While the mainstream press continues to function as “institutional
regulators,” filtering out unsuccessful problem claims from those that receive broader attention
(Hirsch 1972), alternative media have nonetheless exhibited the ability to influence
news agendas (Reynolds 2004; Williams and Delli Carpini 2004). Hilgartner and Bosk’s
(1988) public arenas model, which “describes how problems—and operatives—compete for
public attention and resources” (p. 74), is particularly valuable, as claims generated in the
blogosphere appear to be no less reliant on the standard principles of selection than those
constructed in traditional arenas. Most notably, the competition for scarce public attention
and the limited carrying capacity of mass media both remain fundamental elements of the
social problems process; the majority of claims generated in the blogosphere have failed to
receive attention from mainstream journalists. This suggests that traditional media still per-
form an essential gatekeeping function by filtering newsworthy issues from the blogosphere
to news consumers who do not read blogs.
Still, the blogosphere is a dynamic, interactive arena; we must modify our understanding
of carrying capacity and saturation in order to fully grasp how the Internet contributes to
social problem construction. Unlike traditional arenas where carrying capacity is more static,
blogs can be expanded beyond their actual Web space. Bloggers can effectively utilize the
entire scope of cyberspace to support their claims. Hence, a blog’s carrying capacity theoreti-
cally extends as far as the extensive network of hyperlinks that readers choose to follow.
Additionally, the principle of saturation has a unique function in the blogosphere; bombard-
ing readers with claims appears to stimulate reader interest and debate, crystallize issues, and
contribute to keeping stories alive. Although bloggers must present their claims in novel ways
if they are to receive and maintain media attention, saturating the blogosphere may give
those issues a competitive advantage should they become widely debated by elite bloggers
and their audiences. In short, problem claims that do not become hotly contested throughout
the most influential sects of the blogosphere are less likely to receive interest from the mainstream
press.
This speaks to the fact that the blogosphere has developed according to a hierarchical
structure; a filtering mechanism has emerged through which only a few elite blogs have
attained large-scale daily readerships and exhibited the ability to influence news agendas
(Drezner and Farrell 2004). When these prominent blogs focus on developing or neglected
stories, they can serve as a focal point for mainstream journalists who may circulate those
issues to the larger population. While most blog-generated problem claims remain niche concerns
within the blogosphere, elite blogs have shown the ability to take ownership of issues
156
MARATEA
and attract media coverage. This may partly result from the fact that mainstream news outlets
are increasingly monitoring the activities of high-profile blogs. This fusion of mainstream
news and Internet driven issues suggests that a symbiotic relationship is developing wherein
high-profile blogs direct claims to the traditional press.
Given that the relative success of problem claims is directly tied to their timing within
the “peaks and lulls” of news coverage (Hilgartner and Bosk 1988), the vast supply of problem
claims that are available in the blogosphere provide journalists with a constantly growing
database of available claims that can be incorporated into their reports. Although Bruce A.
Williams and Michael X. Delli Carpini (2000, 2004) assert that new media technologies have
contributed to the elimination of the gatekeeping authority of the traditional press, their
assessment may be presumptive since these changes have neither hindered the ability of
established media to filter problem claims nor undercut their role as secondary claims-makers.
So while the Internet may indeed provide an expanded capacity to carry problem claims,
bloggers must still rely on mainstream news outlets to distribute their claims to larger audiences.
Although blogs may force us to slightly modify our understanding of how public are-
nas function, the underlying premise of Hilgartner and Bosk’s model—that social problem
construction is rooted in the competition for scarce public attention allocated through public
arenas—remains paramount in the Internet age.
Still, the blogosphere may force us to reassess our understanding of the distinctions
between outsider and insider claims-makers. Unlike traditional outsider claims-making arenas,
elite blogs have demonstrated the ability to mobilize their own constituents while simultaneously
establishing direct communication with insiders, making it increasingly common for
policy makers to utilize blogs as a tool for gauging public opinion (Drezner and Farrell 2004;
Reynolds 2004). While this development is both significant and deserving of further study, it
appears that direct communication with political insiders is not, by itself, sufficient for bloggenerated
claims to become recognized as social problems. Thus, outsiders remain wholly
contingent on competing for mainstream media attention in order for their issues to receive
the requisite public attention needed to achieve social problem status. Hence, although blogs
have brought about dynamic changes in media culture, Hilgartner and Bosk’s public arenas
model remains the seminal paradigm for understanding the process of social problem construction.