HW 19 "Web of Influence"

Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrell are the writers to the article in the Blog titled, “Web of Influence”. One paragraph that appears to be fascinating to me about the effects of blogging is the second paragraph on page 85. This paragraph provides the full results between the differences of international blogs and media coverage. In this paragraph, it discusses the influences of blogs on the United States politics. It informs us about the millions of people that are drawn to the blogosphere per day. The White House Internet Director Jimmy Orr “characterized the blogosphere (the all encompassing term to describe the universe of weblogs) as instrumental, important, and underestimated in its influence”. I feel that blogging is having a huge impact on the political world today. They are a way for bloggers who are sometimes more informative about world issues than actual media reporters to discuss and give you a better chance to find out the real deal of what is going on. In this article, they give you solid examples of people in politics that have been affected by the blog world. I like how the authors used good back up cases to show its readers the actual outcomes of online blogging. United States Senate Trent Lott resigned in 2002 after he made harsh remarks at another Senator Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party. Throughout the media, they made as little fuss possible over the statements he said. Apparently they were big issues that shouldn’t have been taken lightly. My point is that online blogging took this story to a whole other level. For instance, “the incident was the subject of intense online commentary, prodding renewed media attention that converted Lott’s gaffe into a full blown scandal”. In other words, we can thank the blogosphere for making unpopular issues going on in politics today to be ‘Headline News’ in the blogging world.