Research Proposal

The topic for my research paper that I am interested in pursuing is the influence blogs and bloggers have wielded on recent large news events. My paper will begin with a brief introduction and the history of blogs, and will also involve a basic terminology overview. After the introduction and history, the paper will focus on three recent events where public perception was affected by blogs: the 2004 presidential election, the CBS News “Memogate” scandal, and the aid effort for tsunami victims. I am interested in finding out how influential blogs were in shaping each of these stories and how blogs can be improved to become a more widely accepted form of journalism.

The introduction and history to blogs will be the shortest section in my paper. I estimate this section to be no more than 2-3 pages, but in order to reach the largest audience I it’s important to include give this overview. There are a number of sources I can use for this, both print- and electronic-based. One good source is the book Who Let the Blogs Out?: A Hyperconnected Peek at the World of Weblogs by Biz Stone, but there seems to be a limitless supply of information on this subject.

The next section of my paper will explore the role blogs and bloggers played in shaping the 2004 presidential election, the CBS “Memogate” scandal, and the tsunami disaster and the world’s aid effort. I think that listed them in this order in the paper adheres to the reverse pyramid technique that has been discussed in our class readings. I’ve got the three events listed in this order, because, of these three events I believe that blogs played a gargantuan role in shaping opinions during the presidential election, a huge role in exposing the forged documents in the CBS News scandal, and a large, but somewhat less grandiose role in the tsunami relief effort. I anticipate writing 3-4 pages exploring each example.

Both the 2004 election and the CBS examples will illustrate the large role that blogs have taken on in our society, and their ability to affect the outcomes of major events. I will use the tsunami example to show that while blogs do play a large role in getting information to the public, they are somewhat limited and not as effective as traditional news mediums.

I have a number of news articles from USA Today, FoxNews.com, CNN.com, and the New York Times that will serve as good sources for my topic. I expect to find that a large amount of materials are available after doing a Lexus-Nexus search, and I have determined that there is an abundance of online materials that are available. I don’t think that I will have too much of a problem narrowing the research material down, and I feel like my topic is specific enough to keep me on track.

I have come to the above listed conclusion only though limited research and readings prior to deciding on this as a research topic. After I delve into this project more deeply, I may find better examples of events that illustrate my main point which is: although they are some what limited and have not yet reached the apex of their popularity, blogs are changing the way Americans are getting their news and showing that they carry influence over major news events and public opinion. I may find out that my current opinions are way off base and I may go in a different direction with my thesis, I’ll know after more research is done. I am also interested in finding out how blogs can be improved to become more accepted as forms of journalism. I have no current opinion on this aspect of the paper, so I am looking forward to formulating one based on these research materials.

I am highly interested in this topic, and although it will not immediately help me in my professional life, it does lie within the arena of what I eventually hope to do—write for an online publication.