Diversity in the Blogosphere?
The only publication that I subscribe to via USPS is Newsweek (and that was a gift). For the most part, I consume most of my 'propaganda' via the web. In the March 21st issue, Steven Levy writes about blogging as a predominately white male thing.
Levy offered up another interesting tidbit in this issue. It seems that conservatives are more likely to link up with conservative sites than liberals with liberal sites.
Anyhoo...go pick it up, it's at a newsstand near you.
"At a recent Harvard conference on bloggers and the media, the most pungent statement came from cyberspace. Rebecca MacKinnon, writing about the conference as it happened, got a response on the "comments" space of her blog from someone concerned that if the voices of bloggers overwhelm those of traditional media, "we will throw out some of the best ... journalism of the 21st century." The comment was from Keith Jenkins, an African-American blogger who is also an editor at The Washington Post Magazine [a sister publication of NEWSWEEK]. "It has taken 'mainstream media' a very long time to get to [the] point of inclusion," Jenkins wrote. "My fear is that the overwhelmingly white and male American blogosphere ... will return us to a day where the dialogue about issues was a predominantly white-only one."
Does the blogosphere have a diversity problem? Interesting question. Hadn't put a whole heck of a lot of thought into that, really.
Levy offered up another interesting tidbit in this issue. It seems that conservatives are more likely to link up with conservative sites than liberals with liberal sites.
Anyhoo...go pick it up, it's at a newsstand near you.
6 Comments:
Interesting. I totally agree with your analysis.
Chris Nolan has been writing about who blogs from a gender perspective.
http://www.chrisnolan.com/archives/000712.html
Is the internet world diverse? No. Is it friendly to those who are not straight white men? No.
But I figure that is all the more reason for me to be here. Like Malik, I'm not intimidated.
I do think that the internet is in dire need of diversity. While Sasha's posts on making access available to everyone goes at the heart of the problem, I do think that the internet has more "special" problems.
It is much easier to dehumanize people and groups over the internet. I think there is something profound about human connection that is missing in blogs and chat boards. And people's prejudices or ignorance come out too easily.
Yes, it's provoked lots of discussion. "Echidne of the Snakes" has had some sharp comments to make about it. I liked this one last month too.
More on the Woman Question from Romenesko here. I like the Katha Pollitt column cited there.
Speaking of Katha Pollitt, check out Chris Nolan's site for some back and forth with her and Katha.
I have to disagree (at least a little) with Robert's assertion that the internet world is unfriendly to those who aren't straight white males.
Like the old New Yorker cartoon says - "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog" To some extent, the internet can be a color and gender blind outlet. I'm embarrassed to admit that at one point, I just assumed that Chris Nolan was a man. I knew her only from her site, and, well, jumped to the wrong conclusion - probably in part due to the dirth of women political bloggers.
I'm not asserting in any way that the internet, and particularly the political blog scene is diverse. Nearly all of the so-called "Major Bloggers" (Atrios, Odub, Yglesias, TPM, Andrew Sullivan, PowerLine[Ick.], etc...) are men - and mostly white men.
It seems to me that the demographic makeup of the political blogosphere isn't that different from the demographic makeup of the political power structure in this country (and by that I mean K street, the pundits, and actual politicians). So maybe our focus on the blogosphere is misplaced, and the trigger that I think started this whole blogstorm (MoDo talking about the lack of female OpEd columnists) is the more salient topic.
I disagree with the analysis. Anyone with a computer or a access to a public library can start a blog. There is almost no barrier to entry.
Anthony Faber doesn't own a computer yet he is one of the moderators on The Wall (http://p209.ezboard.com/fabledartsbathroomwall). I'm pretty sure H. Brown doesn't own a computer either, yet he is one of the most prolific writers on SF politics on the internet and has his own website www.sfbulldog.com.
I think that there must be other issues at play if the vast majority of bloggers are white males. Maybe there is something wrong with us (white males) that makes us want to shout our opinions into cyberspace?
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