Canadian Blogosphere Context
Political Weblogs have a high visibility in Canada. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin kept a high-profile blog during his campaign for leadership of the Liberal Party. As an opposition member, former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Monte Solberg kept a widely read blog. Warren Kinsella, a former advisor to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, maintains a high profile blog as well. Comedian Rick Mercer also keeps a blog that frequently pokes fun at Canadian politicians. The contents of political blogs have been used to both defend and attack politicians in Parliament.
In the early 2000s, the Canadian blogosphere began to organize itself into groups based on political philosophy (left vs. right), political party (Liberal, Green, New Democratic Party, Conservative) and geographic location. Membership in several groups is common, and there is considerable overlap between membership in the Progressive Bloggers and other blogging groups, especially geographic ones.
There is a friendly rivalry between the Progressive Bloggers and the other large groups of Canadian bloggers, especially the Blogging Tories. Blogging Tories who consider themselves Red Tories share many views in common with the Progressive Bloggers and some have memberships in both groups. Soon after the creation of Progressive Bloggers, a list of Liberal bloggers known as Liblogs was formed.
Monitoring the Progressive Bloggers website can give a quick snapshot of what political developments and world issues are considered important in the Canadian blogosphere, as well as what the range of opinion is on these issues. Journalist Antonia Zerbisias uses Progressive Bloggers to tell Toronto Star readers what political happenings have engaged Canadians' attention (e.g., 1, 2).
Read more about this topic: Progressive Bloggers
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