Bloggers stay on topic: same-sex marriage.

July 10, 2009 by Pastor Dan.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has come out with its new report on the Same Sex Marriage Debate. The complete report is online in several major segments (screens) but I don’t see a link to download the thing in its entirety. Cut and paste only?

In the fine print for other resources at the bottom is a tidbit worth blogging about: that same-sex marriage continues to dominate the blogs out there. According to Pew on June 4, “Over the past two months, one issue has emerged as the leading catalyst for online conversation. While debates over harsh interrogation methods and the economic crisis have repeatedly attracted interest in the social media, the subject of gay marriage has bubbled up again and again, in a debate often missing from the mainstream media.”

I have myself worried that I was giving too much attention to the issue, but I’ve not been alone. And all this is not without reason. The news of changing status for same-sex marriage has continued to bubble up in Vermont, Maine, New York, Iowa, California and New Hampshire. . . . Iowa?

The Pew Forum study simply points to the disparity between news in the blogosphere and in the mainstream media. “The intense social media focus on same-sex marriage stands in stark contrast to mainstream press attention. Over the past two months [April–May 2009] the topic generated 11% of the links in the blogosphere but filled just 1% of the newshole in the traditional media.” Except for talk of the California Supremes upholding Proposition 8, the blog conversation, according to Pew, has been overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage.

The summer isn’t over, folks.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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