Quantifying Partisan Selective Exposure Through Network Text Analysis of Elite Political Blog Networks During the U.S. 2012 Presidential Election

ABSTRACT

Utilizing network-based content analysis methodologies, this study examined 316,594 hyperlinks and 60,378 headlines culled from 20 elite, partisan political blogs through 10 months of the U.S. 2012 presidential year for evidence of partisan selective exposure in blog production practices. Hyperlinks reveal dense intra-interconnectivity among progressive blogs as opposed to conservative blogs. Elite, traditional media sources operated as bridges between spheres that otherwise tended to partisan selective exposure in their partisan source linking practices toward congenial media. Headline network text analysis revealed divergent issue and people agendas promoted between both partisan blog networks, providing very strong evidence for the operation of partisan selective exposure in the emergent content practices of these elite produser publics across the 2012 U.S. presidential year.

KEYWORDS:

• Homophily
• network text analysis
• partisan blogosphere
• partisan selective exposure
• political blogs
• political network analysis

Notes

1. UCINET is a social network analysis tool utilized for analysis of data matrices. UCINET can be downloaded at https://sites.google.com/site/ucinetsoftware/

2. NETDRAW is a social network visualization program, and works in tandem with UCINET. It can be downloaded at https://sites.google.com/site/netdrawsoftware/home

3. Automap is a network text analysis tool that can be used to prepare text for visualization analysis. Automap can be downloaded at http://www.casos.cs.cmu.edu/projects/automap/

4. Gephi is a social network visualization tool and can be downloaded at https://gephi.org/

5. Standard deviations among progressive and conservative bloggers in hyperlinking practices were high due to the emphasis on aggregate counts across the 10 blogs within their networks. Because the focus in this study was on aggregate practices as opposed to the behavior of single, partisan blogs, the high standard deviations were expected due to the range of linking volumes and practices between individual blogs as aggregated by partisanship.

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Notes on contributors

Sharon Meraz

Sharon Meraz is an assistant professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her work examines the impact of information technologies on mass media effect theories and citizen political engagement. Her work has appeared in refereed journals such as The International Journal of Press/Politics, New Media and Society, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, and Social Science Computer Review.