A Spill and a Spin : How Traditional and Social Media Are Interrelated in Covering the BP Oil Spill 2010 Miriam Meckel,
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2011-05-29
Author(s)
Abstract
The explosion of the oil rig Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico that caused the hugest oil spill in U.S. history was one of the major topics on the news agenda in the summer 2010. It was driven by intense coverage in traditional media as well as excessive discussion in blogs and on social networking sites. The conversation volume during the whole period was affected by the public presence of two main actors, US President Barack Obama and BP-CEO Tony Hayward.
A study on the coverage in traditional as well as social media for a four week period (May 31st to June 30th) aims at analyzing a complex interrelation in the agenda setting of both groups of media by discriminating the different actors in public sphere (political, corporate, NGO), their ways of appearance (on site visits in Louisiana, speeches, other public steps) and the respective media coverage. By a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the coverage by seven major traditional media (Ney York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, CNN and Fox News), two hybrid media outlets (Huffington Post, Politico) and the topic related conversational traffic in the Blogosphere as well as in Facebook groups and on Twitter.
The result of the study offer a tridimensional result: 1. Traditional media (e.g. newspapers, tv news, political talk shows) and social media (e.g. weblogs, Facebook, Twitter) widely cover similar topics, traditional media focussing more on political news and facts while social media being often driven by rumors and human interest stories. 2. Main driver of the agenda were White House actions, talks and media releases mostly driven by President Obama and his reactions to the crisis, the official Obama speech of June, 15, being the main driver of media coverage in traditional and social media. 3. Inbetween the set of traditional and social media the Huffington Post takes the lead in driving the agenda with a �spin“. The HuffPo therefore get most commentary and is broadly related to by other media from both groups using links and quotes to refer to the respective information and opinion pieces of HuffPo.
A study on the coverage in traditional as well as social media for a four week period (May 31st to June 30th) aims at analyzing a complex interrelation in the agenda setting of both groups of media by discriminating the different actors in public sphere (political, corporate, NGO), their ways of appearance (on site visits in Louisiana, speeches, other public steps) and the respective media coverage. By a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the coverage by seven major traditional media (Ney York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, CNN and Fox News), two hybrid media outlets (Huffington Post, Politico) and the topic related conversational traffic in the Blogosphere as well as in Facebook groups and on Twitter.
The result of the study offer a tridimensional result: 1. Traditional media (e.g. newspapers, tv news, political talk shows) and social media (e.g. weblogs, Facebook, Twitter) widely cover similar topics, traditional media focussing more on political news and facts while social media being often driven by rumors and human interest stories. 2. Main driver of the agenda were White House actions, talks and media releases mostly driven by President Obama and his reactions to the crisis, the official Obama speech of June, 15, being the main driver of media coverage in traditional and social media. 3. Inbetween the set of traditional and social media the Huffington Post takes the lead in driving the agenda with a �spin“. The HuffPo therefore get most commentary and is broadly related to by other media from both groups using links and quotes to refer to the respective information and opinion pieces of HuffPo.
Language
English
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
Yes
Book title
Communication @ the Center
Publisher
ICA International Communication Association
Publisher place
Washington
Start page
1
Event Title
61st Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) 2011
Event Location
Boston, MA
Event Date
26.-30.05.2011
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
162061