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Thesis Front Matter UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Inter-networked News: Media Convergence and the Relationship between Blogging and Journalism by Aiden Buckland A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE CALGARY, ALBERTA April, 2007 © Aiden Buckland 2007 Abstract This study examines the relationship that developed between bloggers and newspapers journalists during the resignation of Trent Lott from the post of Senate Majority Leader in 2002, and the Killian memo scandal of the 2004, Presidential election. It argues that the relationship between bloggers and newspapers journalists highlights the inter-networked environment which news is produced in today. As various news producers from all media compete and co-operate with on another in the production of news, bloggers highlight the interconnected nature of the news narrative that is produced. Representing a new way to present news born out of media convergence, the bloggers in this study produce a daily multimedia news narrative. ii Acknowledgements Many people have helped me a great deal throughout the thesis writing process. I would like to thank my parents, Nancy and Otto Strong, for their timeless support and encouragement throughout this project. I would also like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Michael Keren, who was instrumental in keeping me on track, even when it seemed I was flying off the rails. Without him, this study would not be possible. Lastly I would like to thank all of my colleagues in the faculty of Communication and Culture who have provided me with a sounding board and endless encouragement throughout this process. iii Table of Contents CHAPTER 1:INTRODUCTION................................................................................1 1.1.1Why Study the Relationship between Bloggers and Journalists.................. 3 1.1.2The Cases in this Study ............................................................................... 6 1.2Research Question................................................................................................ 8 1.3Research Outline ................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 2:LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................13 2.1.1Convergence...............................................................................................14 2.1.2Convergence in Academia and Industry.....................................................15 2.1.3Convergence and Journalism......................................................................16 2.2Understanding the Blogosphere..........................................................................21 2.2.1Blogging and Hypertext ............................................................................ 23 2.2.2Blogging as Life Writing............................................................................26 2.2.3Blogging and Journalism............................................................................29 2.3Framing ..............................................................................................................32 2.3.1Origins of Frame Analysis..........................................................................32 2.3.2Where Framing Research has gone ............................................ 37 CHAPTER 3:METHODOLOGY.............................................................................40 3.1Case Study Approach..........................................................................................41 3.1.1Case Studies and Generalizability.............................................................. 42 3.1.2Case Studies and Validity ..........................................................................44 3.2Constructing the Cases........................................................................................46 3.2.1Data Collection...........................................................................................46 3.2.2Data Sources...............................................................................................48 3.3Coding the Data.................................................................................................. 51 3.3.1Game Framing............................................................................................53 3.3.2Responsibility Frames................................................................................ 55 3.3.3Other Frames.............................................................................................. 56 CHAPTER 4:FRAMING TRENT LOTT................................................................58 4.1From Human Interest to Personal Outrage......................................................... 58 4.1.1Trent Lott Case Outline..............................................................................60 4.2Game Frames...................................................................................................... 62 4.2.1Managing the Masses................................................................................. 63 4.2.2Collateral Damage......................................................................................65 4.2.3Playing Politics...........................................................................................68 4.3Responsibility Frames.........................................................................................71 4.3.1Political Accountability..............................................................................72 4.3.2Obligations of the 4th Estate...................................................................... 74 4.3.3Reflections on Responsibility.....................................................................76 4.4Ad Hominem Frames ........................................................................................78 CHAPTER 5:FRAMING THE FALSIFIED MEMOS.............................................81 iv 5.1From Leadership Frames to Journalistic Failure................................................ 81 5.1.1Killian Case Outline................................................................................... 86 5.2Game Frames...................................................................................................... 87 5.2.1Credibility Gap........................................................................................... 88 5.2.2The Killian Memos and the Republican Conspiracy..................................90 5.2.3Democratic-Liberal Media Conspiracy...................................................... 93 5.3Responsibility Frames ........................................................................................95 5.3.1Searching Process for What Went Wrong..................................................96 5.3.2Crediting Bloggers Efforts ........................................................................ 99 5.4A Rather Dirty Fight.........................................................................................100 CHAPTER 6:JOURNALISM, BLOGGING AND MEDIA CONVERGENCE. .103 6.1Limitations and Further Research.....................................................................104 6.2Blogs and the Emergence of Storytelling Convergence................................... 105 6.3The Inter-networked News Environment......................................................... 107 6.4Final thoughts................................................................................................... 109 v List of Figures and Illustrations Figure 1 Sample of the document provided online by CBS.............................................. 84 Figure 2 Sample of a reproduction produced using Microsoft Word................................ 85 vi 1 Chapter 1:Introduction On December 5, 2002, Trent Lott gave a speech to honour his friend fellow Senator Strom Thurmond at his 100th birthday celebration in Washington DC. Senator Lott knew that members of the mainstream press were covering the event. He also knew that the event was being broadcast on CSPAN. What Lott did not know was that fifteen days later the remarks he made during that speech would lead to his resignation as Senate Majority Leader. On September 8, 2004, Dan Rather and news producer Mary Mapes aired a news segment on 60 Minutes II about how President Bush, who was in the midst of an election campaign, did not fulfill his duties with the National Guard in 1973. They knew that the documents they used to prove this fact were suspect because the experts they consulted to authenticate them had voiced some concerns over their authenticity. What Rather and Mapes could not anticipate is that within the next twelve days their reputations and their network would be dragged through the mud and that Rather would be forced to make a public apology for their errors in judgment. What these cases have in common is they were both a result of the combined efforts of both journalists and bloggers. In both of these cases bloggers were first to present what became the dominant issues in the coverage of each story. These two cases are just the beginning in what has become a long list of examples in which the journalistic narratives of bloggers have influenced or directly impacted the way in which members of the mainstream press cover events. It is this relationship between bloggers and mainstream journalists that will be the focus of this study. What is the nature of their relationship? How do the authors from traditional
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