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I understand that it is a commonly held belief that the political left has more influence in online political activity than the political right. Now we have research by Richard Davis that sheds a bit of light on that.
Davis also queried more than 200 journalists to learn how they use blog content in their coverage of political news. Most journalists were aware of influential blogs on both sides of the political spectrum, such as Daily Kos and Talking Points on the left and Michelle Malkin and Instapundit on the right. Despite equal awareness, journalists spend more time reading posts in the liberal blogosphere.
For example, more journalists know about Michelle Malkin than Talking Points. Yet twice as many journalists actually read Talking Points than read Michelle Malkin.
I wish I could find the article that first alerted me to this research because it included another tidbit of information – in the research into political bloggers a much higher percentage of right-leaning bloggers read left-leaning blogs than the number of left-leaning bloggers reading right-leaning blogs.
From my own experience here in the conservative state of Utah I can say that we have at least as many left-leaning political blogs as we do right-leaning political blogs.
My question is, why is this? Why, even where the political right vastly outnumbers the political left on the ground does the political left still hold an edge over the political right online? My suspicion is that part of the answer lies in the fact that the political left was functionally irrelevant in national politics as the world of online commentary was becoming more powerful and widespread. Those who had less of a voice in running the governments might easily have been more anxious to use these new tools to communicate and respond. The result is that in some ways they have a six year head start in online organization and dialog over those who were content to be holding the reins of office. In those six years and without the luxury of turning away all who would challenge their thinking it is reasonable to expect that they might have a more vibrant and interesting dialog in general than their counterparts. It may not be that most members of the media natively prefer liberal positions, it may be that they and even some of those on the right are simply allergic to immature conversation that has not had time to develop as widely without that head start gained in the political wilderness.
I believe that this needs to be rectified. The online conversation should be a more accurate reflection of the various positions held by those on the ground. Perhaps some time in political irrelevance by the political right might serve as an incentive to create some oases online of fertile conservative conversation which could plant the seeds so that our online desert can blossom as a rose, just like the desert we live in has blossomed in the last 162 years.
7 replies on “Online Conservative Desert”
By the natural order of things, as the political right attempts to regain some standing with the nation at large, the right will work to use the tools (and some new tools as well) to regain their footing. If what you say is true. There will be an increase in right leaning political blogs and media attention.
I personally believe that the left leaning media is more firmly rooted in their liberal ideas than you propose. I believe that people hire people with similar views. I believe this propagates a liberal media.
I also believe that the media prefers controversy in order to spur attention.
I have no research to back up my views. Its just what I think.
I agree that there will very likely be a natural rise in the number of right-leaning political blogs. My concern is that more does not guarantee better nor does it promise to make the most enlightened or articulate of those right-leaning blogs more visible. I’m confident that we’ll see some change within the Republican party, but we have to work to make sure that it is change for the better.
As for my suggestion – I have no more data to back it up than you do. It really was just trying to look at things from a new angle. I also agree that “people hire people with similar views” is true and a more accurate explanation of any news bias than some sinister plot to take over the media and brainwash the American people.
P.S. Yes, the media definitely prefers controversy in order to spur attention – no doubt about that. (If it bleeds it leads.)
If your assertion that we need to create more firtile ground for the blossoming of conservitive online political blogs, what method do you suggest for greating the firtile ground.
Put bluntly – I think that there must be a place where the best conservative blogs (most principled, well reasoned, and genteel) are brought together and made easier to find. I’m working on something now, but it’s too early to unveil.
I have long pondered why conservatives rule in certain spheres like talk radio, while liberals rule in other spheres like TV and print media. Many have explored these issues, but equally as many have come up without a decent explanation. Perhaps the blogosphere will begin to lean more right, as suggested. Or perhaps it will parallel print media, and thus continue its leftward slant.
I think that Reach makes an important observation and I think that Jesse’s demographics argument has some validity. On the other hand I think that the characteristics of techies argument rings very hollow. Besides the demographics I think a better explanation would be that every medium of communication has its own biases (the medium is the message) and those biases often play better with one perspective than another. Newspapers, talk radio, and television each have their own biases. in fact, if there is any validity to the characteristics of techies argument it is probably a result of the biases of the medium.
There’s a pretty simple explanation for the blogosphere and I’m surprised that so few pick up on it. To paraphrase a famous political quote, it’s the techies, stupid. Techies are the most likely to use new technology such as blogs, Twitter, and FaceBook. They also happen to have a very strong libertarian/anti-authoritarian streak and tend to be left-moderate as a whole. And many are agnostic, atheist, or some kind of neo-pagan; Christians are scarcely found in hacker circles. Does this sound like the demographics of your average conservative? Probably not.
There’s also the matter of national demographics. Conservatives aren’t doing well with the younger folks who are most likely to embrace technology. There’s also a backlash against the conservative brand after the last Republican administration; it’s not entirely deserved, but Republicans have managed to cling to the conservative label very tightly.
In short, there’s a huge confluence of things that all point towards a left-leaning blogosphere. Until conservative principles are more attractive to techies and the young, that isn’t going to change.