Political Blogs in North Carolina

During the 2008 elections, more than 30 percent of North Carolina voters said they got their information from political blogs, according to my Citizens and Media Professor.


Last week I spent time looking at BlueNC, which leans to the left and Civitasreview, which is more conservative.
I expected these blogs to be shrill, radical accounts of extreme partisan views, but I found that some posts were credible and others were humorously satirical. Overall, I left knowing more about North Carolina politics and having a few points to share with my politically opposite parents.

Both blogs publish posts from multiple individuals, which I think adds to the site's credibility.  These people share political views but express them in different ways.

BlueNC also featured a post by Elaine Marshall, the N.C. Secretary of State. She pushed for financial reform, targeting the liberal audience. Marshall, a candidate for U.S. Senate, undoubtedly is also using this forum as a tool to generate political support, critiquing Congress in order to do so. Nevertheless, her argument was well-supported and informative.

The blogger, "James" is very active on BlueNC. A lot of his posts are satiricial. One redesigns the state flag using corporate images. However, some of his posts are informative, like the one about the SOS Bill, which stands for "Stop Outsourcing Security." But his political agenda is evident when as he urges readers to contact their representatives.

I found Civitasreview to be slightly more informative. The the bloggers posted actual news (although it typically has a conservative slant) as in one post about the ABC scandals. The news is then paired with the author's opinion as well as political action regarding the issue.

Civitas seems more fact-based. Although it carries an obvious political slant, the stories do contain facts, like the timeline in the Basnight Construction piece.

Civitas bloggers appear to do more reporting, as evident in this post by Brian Balfour, in which he appears to be a well-informed journalist, using facts and links to report on the meeting.

Both of these sites were informative and useful, although their political affiliation was clear.  It's easy to see why 30 percent of voters used blogs for political information in 2008, and I predict this number will greatly increase in 2012.