Final Report of Liberal Leadership Race to be Released Monday Nov. 27 in Advance of Montreal Convention

On Monday November 27th the Infoscape Research Lab (www.infoscapelab.ca) will be releasing the final research report on its “Code Politics” project that has been tracking news, blogs, bloggers, the candidates, and issues in the Liberal Leadership campaign since September 1, 2007. The report will be also made available for download at www.infoscapelab.ca/gritrace

The report contains four main findings:

1) Top 10 Influential Bloggers

By tracking blog posts over the fall months this report provides a list of the top ten most active bloggers discussing the Liberal party leadership race. In short, we determine their political affiliation, their role as blogger organizers, and their links to individual candidates, political parties, and/or blogging groups.

2) Opinions of the Candidates in the Blogosphere

The report tracks and analyses the opinions expressed by bloggers on the top tier Leadership candidates (Dion, Ignatieff, Kennedy, Rae). It provides a graph that details the rise and fall of both negative posts and overall partisan comments about each of these top candidates.

3) Campaign Issues: Tracking the Candidates Issues

The report provides a graph and “issue ticker”, that highlights the importance of specific campaign issues on a weekly basis over the course of the fall. The ticker tracks the importance of candidate identified campaign issues (taken from all the candidates websites) over the course of the fall in again both news and blogospheres. The report identifies the candidates whose issues were emphasized (or largely ignored) by media and bloggers.

4) Coverage of the Candidates: A Comparison of News and Blog Coverage

The report compares the coverage that each candidate received in both the news and blogospheres. It compares the level of coverage that specific candidates have in relation to other candidates and in relation to both spheres (news and blogs).

The research was directed by Dr. Greg Elmer, Bell Globemedia Research Chair and Director of the Infoscape Research Lab at Ryerson University. The research, weekly reports, and this final report were produced collaboratively with a team of PhD and masters graduate students from the Joint Communication and Culture graduate programme, York and Ryerson Universities. The Code Politics team consists of Zach Devereaux, Ganaele Langlois, Fenwick McKelvey, Joanna Redden, and Peter Ryan.

Funding for this research was provided in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Media Research Consortium, and the Bell Globemedia Research Chair, Ryerson University.

To arrange interviews in Ottawa (November 24 – 27) or in Montreal the week of the convention (starting November 28) please call Greg Elmer at 416-802-2182.

Pour un commentaire en Français, veuillez contacter Ganaele Langlois (416) 703-9652 ou Zach Devereaux 647-299-5714.