The Politics of Everyday Life: A Review of Political Blogs

           One can tell quite a bit about a political blog by looking at a few key factors. The layout and organization of the overall website contributes to how stories come across to the readers. Every blog has something like a front page story that catches the reader's attention. Political bias can be quite evident depending on the language used in certain articles. The intended audience of the blog helps the reporters narrow down an idea of what issues they should address. Three political blogs: Blue Hampshire, Power Line, and The Huffington Post are just a sampling of the politics of everyday life. 

Blue Hampshire:

Layout/Organization: Blue Hampshire is not only simple, but limited. There is not a whole lot in terms of news stories. Articles are organized by date instead of by importance. It is simple to navigate but the content is lacking. Not much national news is covered, although they claim to be attentive to it.  

Headliner: "THE 'DIRTY DENIER' OF THE DAY: SCOTT BROWN" This is the most recent article posted on Blue Hampshire. The author primarily focuses on the corrupt aspects of a man named Scott Brown who is running for Senate. He had some bad dealings with oil companies in the past and it is advised that he should not be reelected. The author makes their opinion quite clear over the course of the report. 

Political Bias: By just looking at the name of the blog, one can determine that the use of the term 'blue' indicates an association to the Democratic Party. Blue Hampshire is strongly left-leaning; its nickname being "A Progressive Blog for the Granite State". From just looking at a few articles, it can be seen that the people of New Hampshire who read this blog are completely against overspending federal funds.  

Intended Audience: The audience is primarily the residents of New Hampshire. Not many of the articles have anything to do with other issues that stretch outside of the state. There are only a few people that actively comment and react to the articles, leading one to believe that Blue Hampshire is not a particularly popular blog. However, for a state affiliated political blog, it seems to be doing pretty well. 

Power Line:

Layout/Organization: Right off the bat, Power Line seems to be more organized than Blue Hampshire. There are a plethora of articles with visuals that correspond to the headlines well displayed on the front page. With respect to content, it seems like national news is the preference. Advertisements are present, which leads to the conclusion that this blog has a wider readership. 

Headliner: "Science According to Steyer"  is the most recent, and therefore prominent, headline on the home page. It is concerned with the upcoming election and climate issues. There is a condescending tone to this article that does not come off kindly. Ironically, this article is very similar in topic to the one in Blue Hampshire because it mentions Scott Brown. Tom Steyer, a Democrat, is aiding an organization called NextGen Climate with financial support. The author of this story does not agree with Steyer's approach and makes that apparent.

Political Bias: Power Line is strongly conservative. It is critical of all liberal thinkers and will often accuse them of having bad morals or corrupt ideals. Those who publish their thoughts on this blog are not always in full support of President Obama and tend to over analyze his speeches. Being right-leaning, Power Line gives many Republicans an outlet. 

Intended Audience: There is a much larger audience intended for Power Line. The amount of feedback that an article gets through comments shows that it is a relatively active site for political discussion. It has even been recognized by Time magazine. Those with conservative beliefs will fit right in here. 

The Huffington Post:

Layout/Organization: There has obviously been a lot of work put into this political blog to make it more user friendly. The pictures are more prominent than the headlines, which is visually appealing to the viewer and will get their attention more quickly. The front page consists of a cover story and many other sub-articles underneath it. Not only does the Huffington Post deal with politics, but it covers many other areas as well. 

Headliner: "Hagel: Threat 'Beyond Everything We've Seen'" This headline is the most eye-catching piece on the front page. The article that corresponds to it is the cover story for the entire blog. The story is presented relatively neutrally. There is no obvious voice that sways the reader to one opinion or the other. It concerns the relationship between the United States and the Islamic State militants. It is written primarily to report and not to comment a particular viewpoint regarding the news. 

Political Bias: The Huffington Post is liberal or left-leaning. The articles, however, are not particularly sarcastic or demeaning. What is interesting about this blog is that it concerns itself with world news, which was not as apparent in Blue Hampshire or Power Line. Reporting seems to be its primary purpose. 

Intended Audience: The Huffington Post is one of the largest news sources in the country. It caters to all people who want to learn about the world around them. As well, a variety of subjects besides politics are covered throughout the blog.