The party line online
Subtitle: an oligarchy of opinion on a public affairs listserve
By: Steven Schild and Kim Oren
Contributors: Oren, Kim; Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Series: Journalism & communication monographs -- v. 7, no. 1; Journalism & communication monographs -- v. 7, no. 1.
Publisher: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Columbia, SC
Language: eng
Number of pages: 47
Copyright date: 2005
Subjects: Electronic discussion groups; Political aspects; Online chat groups; Electronic information resources
Description: "During a 6-month period analyzed in this study, a small number of ideologically like-minded participants dominated a listserve created in a small Midwestern city for discussion of public-policy issues. That dominant group exerted an oligarchy of opinion that led to online discussions about, and raises larger questions about, whether the listserve was achieving its goal of 'creating a community-wide discussion.' This study examines two controversial issues about which the preponderance of opinion expressed online did not reflect the preponderance of opinion expressed in letters to the editor in two newspapers in the same city and, in one case, at the ballot box. Also examined are online conversations about how the dominant opinion on the listserve may have caused some subscribers to participate as 'lurkers' rather than as writers who expressed their opinions online"--Abstract, p. 6.
Notes: "Spring 2005"

Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-44).