Many media researchers have turned their attention to new media, specifically how the proliferation of blogs has changed the way media inuences the public agenda. Less attention has been paid to how blogs and new media are changing the way news is framed and reported. In a preliminary case study two elements of political news reporting on blogs were explored: 1) Do political blogs focus more on insider information and process news than traditional media’s online news outlets? 2) What implications, if any, does this dierence have on the value of the information in assisting the audience form opinions about public issues?
A content analysis of articles on four blogs hosted by Politico.com and articles from the New York Times online edition, found that during the time frame studied, the Politico blogs carried signicantly more insider news than The New York Times, both in raw number of articles and as a percentage of total articles. Based on traditional models of media agenda-setting, as the public becomes more exposed to and more dependent on political blogs for their news, they may become more aware and concerned with process news, insider information and scandals, while becoming less informed and less equipped to make judgments about candidates and legislation. This breakdown of news barriers by new media outlets needs to be further explored to understand how new media may impact political discourse and communication.
Building on this research, which suggests that blogs and new media may be changing news boundaries, the next stage of research will integrate textual analysis of news media frames with survey data of online news readers to better understand the ways in which various news sources affect knowledge and perceptions of social issues
