Bloggers Back Occupy Wall Street protests

By a margin of more than 2 to 1, bloggers overwhelmingly expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street protests that began in Lower Manhattan on September 17 and spread around the country.

Almost half (46%) of the conversation on blogs championed the movement compared with 18% which was opposed (35% was neutral or straight news). Polls show the general public is more evenly divided over the goals of the movement, but in the blogosphere the message was clearly one of encouragement - though with little added clarity as to what specific actions the movement is calling for. Last week, October 17-21, also marked one month since the protests began. And while coverage devoted to the movement declined in the mainstream press last week, it gained attention among bloggers, ranking third overall-the first time that the subject ranked among the most discussed in the blogosphere, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. This edition of the NMI includes a special analysis of the blogosphere utilizing computer technology from the media monitoring firm Crimson Hexagon to examine the tone of conversation about the protests from their origination on September 17 all the way through October 25. Expressions of support took several forms. Some bloggers backed the movement by helping to organize and dispense information pertaining to specific rallies. Others shared the reasons why they backed the protests and what they hoped the outcomes might be. Those in opposition, a smaller cohort overall, declared the protests to be misguided and derided the character of those involved. The two sides came together, though, in complaining that the traditional press was being unfair in its coverage.