Kim Smith & Bryan Murley, University of South Carolina
A census of 100 authors of the most visited current-events blogs provided a snapshot of bloggers’ opinions about their role in a democracy, journalism and ethics during the tumultuous 2004 presidential election. Among the findings: forty-nine bloggers (90.7 percent) said they played an important role in political change; 51 bloggers (92.6 percent) said it was important that they fact-checked the traditional news media.
Bryan Murley is student publications adviser/instructor at North Greenville University and webmaster for College Media Advisers, Inc., where he maintains the main web site (www.collegemedia.org) and a weblog about the changes facing college media (reinventing.collegemedia.org). He is also a doctoral student at the University of South Carolina. His research interests are new media, weblogs, religion, and campus media.
Kim Smith is a second year Ph.D. student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina. His research interests include new media technology and health communications. He is a former Web editor for a nonprofit health care improvement agency and a freelance reporter for National Public Radio.