Tracking the Blogs: An Evaluation of Attacks, Acclaims, and Rebuttals Presented on Political Blogs During the 2008 Presidential Election

This study employed Benoit’s functional theory of presidential discourse to examine the incidence of attacks, acclaims, and rebuttals on four politically aligned blogs and six politically nonaligned blogs. Results suggest that candidates use their own blogs for acclaims, political parties use their...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American behavioral scientist (Beverly Hills) 2011-06, Vol.55 (6), p.651-666
Main Authors: Wicks, Robert H., Bradley, Amy, Blackburn, Gregory, Fields, Tiffany
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Audiences
Blogs
Candidates
Christians
Competition
Conservatism
Discourse
Election results
Elections
Electoral campaigning
Females
Functional analysis
Functionalism
Internet
Media
Political campaigns
Political Parties
Politics
Presidential candidates
Presidential elections
Presidents
Respect
Tracking
U.S.A
Websites
Women
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Summary:This study employed Benoit’s functional theory of presidential discourse to examine the incidence of attacks, acclaims, and rebuttals on four politically aligned blogs and six politically nonaligned blogs. Results suggest that candidates use their own blogs for acclaims, political parties use their blogs to level attacks against opponents, and rebuttals on blogs are rare. These findings are contrasted with the entries on six politically nonaligned political blogs directed toward specialized audiences, such as conservatives, liberals, independents, women, African Americans, and Christians. Candidate blogs contained significantly more acclaims than did nonaligned blogs, but both were similar with respect to incidence of attacks and rebuttals.
ISSN:0002-7642
1552-3381
DOI:10.1177/0002764211398085