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Tornˇrhielm
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The influence of political
blogs on the political reporting of the traditional media
In modern
democracies the traditional media is seen as the fourth estate, with the
purpose to monitor the political power. The media has a gatekeeping function
and an agenda setting power. Nowadays since the introduction of Web 2.0 and the
social media, and with that the political blogs, the role of media is under change.
In this essay the purpose has been to analyze how the media reporting has been
affected by the political blogs. The study has taken its base in theories about
communication science, media technology and political science. For the
theoretical knowledge articles and books regarding the issue have been studied
and four interviews with experts within the field have been conducted. The
result of the study indicates that the political blogs have had few direct influences
on the effect of the media reporting. However, political blogs combined with
other phenomenons have had more effects. One of the
effects that can be derived from the influence of the blogs seems to be an
increase of the quality in the media content since the blogs check the
traditional media and acknowledge its readers when it is mistaken. Another
effect is the new media rhyme with updates every few minutes rather than once
every day.