Research Proposal

I am interested in studying the DailyKos online community, particularly the “diarist” section of the Web site that allows any user to register for an account and post on the blog –usually opinions or responses to other posts – with little to no filtering. As an open invite group blog, DailyKos relies on the “marketplace of ideas” theory that its users will weed out slanderous and unsubstantiated claims and provide informative content of their own. I think the immense popularity of the DailyKos online community, its reputation as a far-left echo chamber and its entanglement in several high-profile ethical flaps make it ripe for further research and ethnographic observation.

The potential ethical minefield that is DailyKos raises a number of questions that warrant further study:

• Who is vetting diarists and regular posters whose stories sometimes blow up and ricochet through the mainstream media – only to be exposed as fallacious (i.e. the explosive Palin’s “Baby-gate” scandal). Should there be a more stringent vetting process or would top-down control defeat the whole purpose of the group blog structure?

• Are DailyKos diarists simply Democratic party mouthpieces bent on sliming conservative politicians or contributing to an information network through advocacy journalism?

• Should DailyKos posters continue to have the option of anonymity—or should they be forced to reveal their identity? And should these bloggers be considered journalists? For example, Kos took heat over accusations that several of his “reporters” had received compensation from the Howard Dean campaign. Kos claimed they weren’t journalists.

• Are there any ethical guidelines or is it just willy-nilly marketplace of ideas filtering out refuse through the rating system and posters editing one another?

• Should the mainstream media cite DailyKos blogs, and how should they attribute such quotes (Fox news cites entire blog, not diarist)?

• What if a candidate uses the blog as a platform for self-promotion through blog posts through self or other bloggers, or uses blog as a DailyKos endorsement?

• Contributors are not paid, but Kos takes chunk of ad revenue. Is this fair for a community blog, or should there be some form of revenue sharing?