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Issue Networks in Online Debate Over the USA Patriot Act

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Issue Networks in Online Debate Over the USA Patriot Act University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2006 Political Advocacy on the Web: Issue Networks in Online Debate Over the USA Patriot Act Margot Leigh Emery University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Emery, Margot Leigh, "Political Advocacy on the Web: Issue Networks in Online Debate Over the USA Patriot Act. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2006. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1933 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Margot Leigh Emery entitled "Political Advocacy on the Web: Issue Networks in Online Debate Over the USA Patriot Act." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. Benjamin J. Bates, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: William L. Seaver, Sally J. McMillan, Gretchen Whitney Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Margot Leigh Emery entitled “Political Advocacy on the Web: Issue Networks in Online Debate Over the USA Patriot Act.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. Benjamin J. Bates Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: William L. Seaver Sally J. McMillan Gretchen Whitney Accepted for the Council: Linda Painter Interim Dean of Graduate Studies (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) Political Advocacy on the Web: Issue Networks in Online Debate Over the USA Patriot Act A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Margot Leigh Emery December 2006 Copyright © 2006 by Margot Leigh Emery All rights reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I received assistance from many quarters to accomplish this project. In fact, the adage, ‘It takes a whole village to raise a single child,’ remains in my mind as I reflect on the support and generosity that has aided me as I worked toward the goal of completing the degree. My family never wavered in their faith in me, and I received much support from an extended network of friends and associates, among them Dr. Vince Pantalone, David James, and Drs. James Foster, Martin Gebrow, and Barbara Haning. Also supportive of my goals were my employers. First, Tennessee Technological University, which allowed me to work a flex schedule while commuting for my studies, and then the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station and Institute of Agriculture at the University of Tennessee, which gave me career opportunities that provided fee waivers and income as I studied for the degree. I deeply appreciate their flexibility and backing in enabling me to pursue my goal. In particular I’d like to acknowledge Dr. Tom Klindt, who was also pivotal in assisting another doctoral graduate, Dr. Bonnie Riechert, the former communications coordinator and my former supervisor at the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station. My academic mentors Drs. Benjamin J. Bates and M. Mark Miller have been unstinting in their support, understanding, and enthusiasm for my growth and development, and I appreciate the friendship I’ve had with them and with the fellow doctoral students I’ve known, and worked with, during my course of study. Through UT’s Intercollegiate Graduate Statistics Program (IGSP), I minored in statistics. I value iii my time in the Department of Statistics and, in particular, the opportunity to learn from Dr. Bill Seaver. I appreciate the patience and enthusiasm for his discipline that he has shown as he guided me, and his contributions as a member of my doctoral committee. I also appreciate the support and guidance of my other committee members, Dr. Sally McMillan and Dr. Gretchen Whitney. Each has contributed importantly to the quality of this work and to my ability to complete it. Finally, I’d like to express my appreciation to Dr. Richard Rogers and the Govcom.org organization in Amsterdam, whose research theory and methods helped to made this dissertation possible. iv ABSTRACT This dissertation examines how people and organizations used the World Wide Web to discuss and debate a public policy in 2005, at a point of time when the Internet was viewed as a maturing medium for communication. Combining descriptive and quantitative frame analyses with an issue network analysis, the study evaluated the frames apparent in discourse concerning two key sections of the USA Patriot Act, while the issue network analysis probed hypertext linkages among Web pages where discussion was occurring. Sections 214 and 215 of the USA Patriot Act provided a contentious national issue with multiple stakeholders presumed to be attempting to frame issues connected to the two sections. The focus on two sections allowed frame and issue network contrasts to be made. The study sought evidence of an Internet effect to determine whether the Web, through the way people were using it, was having a polarizing, synthesizing, or fragmentizing effect on discussion and debate. Frame overlap and hypertext linkage patterns among actors in the issue networks indicated an overall tendency toward synthesis. The study also probed the degree to which there is a joining, or symbiosis, of Web content and structure, in part evidenced by whether patterns exist that like-minded groups are coming together to form online community through hypertext linkages. Evidence was found to support this conclusion among Web pages in several Internet domains, although questions remain about linking patterns among blogs due to limitations of the software used in the study. v Organizational Web sites on average used a similar number of frames compared to other Web page types, including blogs. The organizational Web pages were found to be briefer in how they discussed issues, however. The study contributes to theory by offering the first known empirical study of online community formation and issue advocacy on a matter of public policy and through its finding of a linkage between Web content and Web structure. Methodologically, the study presents a flexible mixed-methods model of descriptive and quantitative approaches that appears excellently suited for Internet studies. The dissertation’s use of fuzzy clustering and discriminant analysis offer important improvements over existing approaches in factor-based frame analysis and frame mapping techniques. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I ....................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................1 Objectives....................................................................................................................6 Summary .....................................................................................................................8 CHAPTER II...................................................................................................................9 THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS .................................................................................9 Frame Analysis..........................................................................................................10 Origins and Development of Framing and Frame Analysis.....................................10 Criticism of Framing..............................................................................................16 Framing in Media Studies ......................................................................................17 Framing in Internet Studies....................................................................................20 Framing in Issue Advocacy Studies........................................................................24 Methodological Considerations of Frame Analysis ................................................26 Summary ...............................................................................................................28 Social Network Analysis............................................................................................29 Origins and Development of Social Network Analysis...........................................29 Core Concepts of Social Network Analysis............................................................31 Linkage Analysis ...................................................................................................35 Integration of Framing Analysis and Issue Network Analysis ....................................39 CHAPTER III................................................................................................................41
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