In a week that saw landmark same-sex marriage votes in Vermont and Washington, D.C., bloggers devoted far more attention to that story than any other-with most applauding the legislative gains for gay couples.
More than a quarter of the links (26%) by blogs and social media sites from April 6-10 focused on the gay-marriage issue, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That differed dramatically from the traditional press, which devoted only 1% of last week's newshole to gay marriage, making it the No. 15 story in the mainstream media agenda.
The second largest story online last week, with 10% of the links, was a video and report on the Guardian Web site concerning an April 1 incident in which a man named Ian Tomlinson was knocked to the ground by police while walking through the protest area during the G20 Summit in London. Moments after the encounter, Tomlinson suffered a heart attack and died. The Guardian article called into question the version of events offered by the police.
The third largest story (at 7%) was an April 8 report in the New York Times that suggested Obama was going to push for immigration reform despite the political challenges involved with the divisive issue.
Read the full report Same-Sex Marriage Dominates Conversation in the Blogosphere on the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism Web site.