Are Blogs Revitalizing Democracy?

Bloggers are playing an important role in the 2004 election, but are they having a more far-reaching impact on society? I believe that by allowing readers to participate in the news cycle, bloggers are revitalizing democracy:

The 2004 presidential campaign has marked the coming of age for Internet 'blog' journals as a cutting edge political tool for raising cash and revving up political support.

These people have strong political beliefs and they share them. In many respects you sign up for a blogger in the political realm because you're interested in their viewpoint and what they're reading. They are, in a sense, an editor on your behalf," Finberg said.

The individual blogger is backed by an army of thousands:

The web diarists often see their role as pointing out errors, bias and inconsistencies in the more established press. "There's a lot of good information that's being written on these web logs There's a lot of linking to things that people might not otherwise find," said Finberg.

Bloggers flexed their muscle when they played a key role in exposing documents broadcast in a CBS television program on President George W. Bush's Vietnam era military service as likely forgeries.

"CBS is a prosperous network and it can afford to hire a number of fact checkers, but it can't afford to hire a million fact checkers," he said. "The fundamental fact of the Internet age for people in the media is, your audience knows more than you do."

Moreover, blogs expose media bias and correct the errors of the mainstream media, which in the past has not been good about acknowledging mistakes or correcting the record. Nowhere is this more important than during an election year:

"Presidential campaigning, in which allegations fly fast and furious without always being vetted or substantiated, is the perfect domain for bloggers."

"It's a new accountability tool, and it's going to become more important," said Tapscott, director of the Center for Media and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank.

So what are the drawbacks of blogs?

Obviously, they're partisan. The mainstream media has made much of this charge, but recent news stories suggest significant partisanship exists in the mainstream media as well. A simple examination of the relative coverage given to the Swift Vets allegations and the Navy's ongoing investigations of John Kerry's medals, vs. the four-year media blitzkreig on the Bush AWOL story and Kitty Kelley's trashy drug rumors (which her main source has vehemently denied) should be sufficient to demonstrate that the media are hardly immune to bias. Indeed, a recent Rasmussen poll showed Americans believe 4 out of 5 of the major news stations are biased in favor of John Kerry. Most voters no longer trust the media; since 1994, ABC, NBC, and CBS have lost approximately 50 percent of their viewers. Brent Bozell comments:

"Fifteen years ago you had about 20 percent of the American people that believed the media were biased. Today that number is 89 percent."

Professional media accuse bloggers of a lack of professionalism. Responding in real time, they often post stories as they happen, which can lead to later retractions:

In tone, blogs are a cross between political newsletter and tabloid tear sheet, using informal and sometimes raunchy language that may turn off some readers. And critics say that, mixed in with the reputable information, blogs often traffic rumor, innuendo, and unfounded accusation.

But here again is one of the major strengths of blogs: if a story is proven false, it's a rare blogger who isn't deluged with emails and comments. Most bloggers will publish an update to correct the story immediately. I would argue that blogs are uniquely accountable to their readers in a way the MSM are not: if we are consistently wrong, our readers stop listening and find someone who can get the story straight.

The article leaves out another important advantage of blogs: posts are supported by links to the sources used to support the story. The more credible blogs use multiple sources to support a post. Readers can follow the links to learn more and evaluate the credibility of the information supplied. This is not possible with the nightly news or daily newspaper.

Strangely, the main advantage of blogs was never mentioned in the article, and it's an important one: blogs make the news cycle interactive. Blogs with comments enabled allow readers to discuss the news, argue policy and trade facts, offer links to related stories, correct false or misleading information, and offer their insights for debate and review by the Internet community.

Even non-commenting blogs let readers participate by emailing the blogger (who more often than not will respond) and by contributing stories. Most readers like to see their names on the screen and many important stories are broken, not by the investigative work of the blogger, but by an intrepid reader with a modem and a thirst for information.

By allowing readers to participate in the news cycle, break stories, investigate rumors, and share their thoughts with a vast network of other readers who care passionately about world events, blogs are revitalizing democracy. People are meeting on the web to discuss the issues instead of on the front porch or down at the corner store. But for the first time in years, they're talking. The once-disconnected and apathetic voter is getting involved in a way he or she hasn't in years, and it's exciting to see.

A more involved and informed electorate is one by-product of blogging that's here to stay, and all the pajama putdowns in the world can't take that away.

Cross posted at I Love Jet Noise