Why does my research focus on live blogs?

Live blogging is a digital media phenomenon that has captured scholars' attention in the past few years, along with the growing impact of the interactive features of the Internet on news production and information dissemination.  

A live blog was introduced by the Guardian website in 1999 and further developed in 2005 as a response to the major terrorist attack in London which increased the need for audience engagement in storytelling and live coverage of events online. The live blog is an online journalistic genre used predominantly for covering breaking news, scheduled events and sports games. This news format places facts in chronological order and provides information about an event as it unfolds. 

I chose to study the live blog because I perceive it as the news format which displays a high democratic potential as it incorporates diverse opinions, encourages interactivity, transparently presents information, and allows a public debate on events in motion. Suitable for breaking news, it perfectly responds to the needs of the 21 century audience, who wants to have their news delivered neither tomorrow nor today, but in real time, as the event is running. 

The reason I'm so passionate about the live blog is because I want to see how this particular format will develop in the future and whether it has the capacity of contributing to more democratic journalism. Furthermore, as a relatively new phenomenon, the live blog is not widely researched, so the studies that I have been working on should shed light on its main advantages, flaws, and reasons why, according to some scholars, readers find this journalistic format to be appealing. One of the most salient features of live blogs is their participatory element, meaning that readers are strongly encouraged to contribute to stories by providing their own content. Those scholars who advocate maintaining traditional journalism rules and practices see this impact of readers on news production as a threat, while those who are more open to changes perceive it as a way of sharing responsibility and jurisdiction over the truth between journalists and audiences.

Acknowledging innovative trends in the media industry, my research philosophy goes hand in hand with the latter. It addresses the importance of analyzing new phenomena in journalism from the perspective of overall changes in the Information age, rather than from the standpoint of old, traditional journalistic values and practices. Being under the impact of studies of well-known digital media researchers (e.g., Alfred Hermida, Neil Thurman), I believe that online journalism is quite often unfairly criticized for diverting from the established norms. Instead, I agree with scholars who insist on paradigm shift in journalism, pointing out at the value of networked journalism, which allows the truth to be questioned, examined, and debated among professionals and non-professionals.