ABSTRACT
Political bloggers occupy a unique and influential position in determining whether an online political video attracts attention from Internet users, journalists, and politicians. Despite the central role that bloggers play in the process of filtering online videos, however; there have been no systematic empirical studies of the kinds of videos that political bloggers choose to link to on their blogs. Using the data derived from 100 randomly selected political blogs during the last 2 months of the 2008 campaign, this article presents evidence that political bloggers are willing to post videos produced by a diverse array of sources, ranging from highly polished advertisements filmed by interest groups to footage recorded by ordinary citizens using cell phone cameras. Perhaps more importantly, the author finds strong support for the hypothesis that political bloggers will a void posting videos that challenge their ideological predispositions and, instead, link only to those videos that confirm what they already believe to be true. More specifically, the data presented here show that political bloggers rarely engage in cross-ideological linking and have a strong preference for videos that disparage the actions and statements of their highest-profile political opponents. Political bloggers, in other words, engage in the type of ideologically motivated filtering of online videos that presents readers with a decidedly one-sided and negative view of those who do not share their political beliefs.
