New Media and Politics: An Analysis of The Daily Beast

Rachel Salabes

CCTP – 767

December 17, 2010

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Introduction

Online news websites have evolved tremendously since the first new media era. They

have transformed from static, text-based pages to multidimensional, interactive spaces. In today’s

society, an increasing percentage of the population is turning to online news sites in order to stay

informed. Whether a reader visits a news site that represents an established publication or a site

that is new and independent, these online news sources seek to include elements that keep their

audiences growing.

Many online news sites provide readers with the opportunity to learn about current

events, read original and aggregated content and consume news through multiple forms of

media. Because of today’s participatory news environment, online news websites also offer

multiple sharing and interactive features. A prime example of this type of site is The Daily Beast.

Since its launch in October of 2008, the website has aimed to take reader participation to the next

level by hoping users will visit not only to read news, but also to interact with others.

Therefore, several questions will be asked in order to determine the extent to which The

Daily Beast is truly a participatory space. The questions that will be examined include: Does the

site provide multiple opportunities for users to share content? Does the site provide spaces for

users to interact with one another? Do news consumers receive the opportunity to interact with

reporters? Before answering these questions, it is important to discuss the definition and history

of online news websites in order to understand the extent to which they have evolved.

Furthermore, the functions, audience and content of online news sites will be examined to truly

evaluate the current news landscape.

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Defining the Medium

Most online news websites share similar properties. A website is identified by a unique

URL, and has a selection of webpages that can be accessed from the homepage. Typically these

are similar to sections that would be found in a print newspaper, such as Politics, Health, World,

Business and Entertainment. In general, these sites consist of a collection of content that the

news organization has generated itself and aggregated from other sources. In today’s news

environment, a viewer will see similar content when searching online news sites. The same

major and breaking stories appear across multiple news platforms, including newspapers,

television and websites providing a generally coherent news story.

A central purpose of online news websites is to provide instantaneous reporting in order

to educate readers about a specific topic or event (Pavlik xi). According to John Vernon Pavlik,

news sites can be defined by their fluidity because they are updated and changed as soon as

events unfold (xiv). This ability to provide content efficiently is an essential characteristic of

online news. In the current news environment, websites are not limited by the time constraints

that often plague newspapers and television broadcasts (Prior 12).

In today’s new media era, online news sites have higher levels of engagement,

networking, and information sharing (Owen 9 Nov 2010). It is this involvement of consumers

that has contributed to the heightened relationship between news organizations, journalists and

the public (Pavlik xi). For example, many news sites contain a variety of social networking tools

that permit the reader to share content. In addition to traditional reporting, online news sites also

tend to contain their own blogs on a variety of topics, as well as an area for citizen journalism.

Established news sites such as CNN and FOX, contain specific sections for readers to post their

own articles, photos and video. Independent online news sites have also started to dedicate

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spaces to their readers. In 2007, The Huffington Post launched its own citizen journalism project

called OffTheBus (Huffington).

It is evident that the current definition of online news websites differs from when they

were first created. News websites emerged in the mid 1990s, in the first era of new media (Owen

7 Sept 2010). By the end of 1994, hundreds of publications, including Time and The New York

Times began to offer their articles online (Allan 15). When news sites first appeared, most were

considered to be “repositories of reports previously published elsewhere” (Allan 15). However,

interactivity on news websites slowly began to develop. Many news sites included areas for

discussion, such as message boards and forums (Allan 15). In addition, viewers were often

provided with reporters' emails, beginning the initial two way dialogue between readers and

journalists (Allan 15). In the mid 90s, events such as the Oklahoma City bombing began to

forever change online journalism (Allan 16). Journalists immediately published any information

they could find about the event online, providing instant coverage to news consumers (Allan 16).

This was the start of a dramatic shift in the news environment, with emphasis placed on speed

rather than accuracy (Maier 7).

Politics are now an essential part of most online news sites; however, this was not always

the case. It was in the mid 1990s that news sites initially became more involved in politics.

While many publications were online by 1994, it was during the 1996 election that campaigns

increased their use of the Internet (Farnsworth and Lichter 153). According to the Pew Research

Center, only 14 percent of those surveyed in 1996 said they found campaign news online (2000).

Even though this percentage is relatively low, candidates and news organizations developed in-

depth campaign websites (Farnsworth and Lichter 153). Two years later, as Internet use was

becoming more widespread, online news sites also became a major source of information on

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political scandals, namely when the Drudge Report initially broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal

(BBC Online).

Americans turning to online news steadily increased each election year. Almost 18

percent of Americans said they went online for election news during the 2000 election, up 4

percent from the 1996 campaign (Pew Research Center 2000). This percentage increased

drastically during the 2004 election - 41 percent of voters claimed they got at least some of their

news online (Pew Research Center 2004). The 2008 election proved to be even more significant,

with 33 percent of those surveyed saying they got most of their campaign news from the Internet,

triple that of the 2004 election (Pew Research Center 2008). In 2008, CNN was accessed by 27

percent of voters looking to obtain campaign news online (Farnsworth and Lichter 21).

This constant evolving of online news websites has led to current innovative sites, such

as The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast is an online news and opinion website founded by Tina

Brown, the former editor of The New Yorker. This website is a prime example of a more recent

online news site that incorporates many of these defining elements, including instantaneous

reporting and sharing elements. The website consists of multiple subsections that are expected to

be present on any news site, such as Politics, Entertainment, Business and World News. The site

contains large amounts of multimedia; for example, the homepage contains a rotating slideshow,

video and dozens of images. Simply speaking, The New York Times calls it “a smaller, less

chaotic version of the World Wide Web itself” (Carr).

In addition to generating its own content from Daily Beast reporters and various

contributors, the site also features aggregated content. The “Cheat Sheet” is prominently located

and links viewers to other interesting stories around the web. Other elements include a Video

Cheat Sheet, as well as links to affiliates and vertical sites, such as Hungry Beast, Art Beast and

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Book Beast. In addition to the website's properties and purposes, a website can further be defined

by the functions it performs.

Functions

Online news sites function as a space where several types of media work together to tell

a story. The majority of online news sites consist of multiple forms of media, practicing what is

referred to as convergence journalism (Kolodsky 4). In addition to text, a single article may

contain links, videos and images. In today's digital age, consumers expect to experience online

news stories rather than simply read them. For example, during the October 31, 2010 Rally to

Restore Sanity, news consumers wanted more than to just read about the event. Most online news

sites provided video of Jon Stewart's speech and photo galleries containing images of the crowd

and the various speeches and performances. This is typical not just for rare, large scale events,

but also daily national and local news stories.

Sites such as The Daily Beast also function as an online space to meet, debate, and share

opinions and stories. Because websites have shifted from basic and unsophisticated to dynamic

and interactive, there is now extreme hyper-involvement from consumers (Pavlik xiv). For

example, online news sites function as a tool for readers to share articles they may like with

others. Readers can easily and instantly send stories to countless social networking sites, such as

Digg, Delicious, or Technorati. In particular, Twitter and Facebook have become staples in this

section. News articles are also followed by a comments section where the reader can choose to

simply leave their opinion or specifically interact with another commenter. As a result,

consuming online news is now considered to be a shared social experience (Pew Research Center

2010d).

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 The Daily Beast performs the multiple functions expected from today's online news sites.

Tina Brown explains The Daily Beast as a space that “...sifts, sorts, and curates” (Q and A). As

most online news sites in today's digital age, The Daily Beast is a responsive and real-time site

where readers can discuss and interact with one another (The Daily Beast Turns 1). Because most

online news sites aim to include a variety of social functions, The Daily Beast contains a thriving

comments section, a mobile app for on-the-go readers, RSS feeds, as well as connections to

social networking sites. Through these functions, Brown hopes readers will choose to lead the

conversation, rather than simply follow it (Q and A).

As evidenced by the various elements included on The Daily Beast, the site also

functions to keep users up to date on a variety of topics. Ranging from the more traditional hard

news to soft news stories that emphasize sensationalism and drama, the amount of content The

Daily Beast provides to its readers is extraordinary (Baumgarner and Morris 341). For example,

a viewer might find the latest updates on election night, while also finding articles on the Bravo

TV series, “The Real Housewives”. Therefore, not only does the Daily Beast function to provide

a large amount of content, it also aims to reach a variety of people.

Audience

In 2008, the United States’ top four news sites (Yahoo! News, MSNBC.com, CNN.com

and AOL News) experienced a 22 percent increase in unique visitors to 23.6 million a month,

more than five times the rate two years earlier (Maier 6). These drastic increases have also

extended to independent online news sites, such as The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast,

which are currently drawing 30 percent of online news consumers (Pew Research Center 2010c).

According to The Huffington Post, the site had 40 million unique visitors in March of

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2010 (Kafka). Arianna Huffington claims they are able to draw such large numbers because of

the site’s verticals, such as the new Technology and Sports sections which didn’t exist until this

year (Kafka). These vertical sections may be driving the success of this particular niche of online

news sites. Similarly, The Daily Beast has also launched several vertical sites including Hungry

Beast, Book Beast, and Sexy Beast. Due to these verticals, The Daily Beast can now draw

readers that are looking for book reviews, new restaurants to visit, or the latest news in

entertainment and fashion.

Not only do these sites draw large numbers, they also attract a diverse audience.

Technology enthusiasts, environmentalists, sports fans, and gay-rights activists made up a

significant portion of the 2 million unique visitors The Huffington Post received in the month of

February 2008 (Wainwright). In addition, 34 percent of the Post’s readers also visit other liberal

blogs, while 27 percent of them surprisingly frequent conservative blogs, including redstate.com

(Wainwright). According to journalist Matt Wainwright, “On average huffingtonpost.com

attracted the highest segment indices, indicating its appeal to seemingly disparate groups like ID

Protection, Family and Technology Interested Behavioral Segments”.

The Daily Beast has also experienced similar growth over the last several years. The site

had 3.9 million monthly unique readers and 35 million page views at the end of its first year

(Daily Beast Turns 1). As of October 2010, the site’s traffic is now averaging nearly 5 million

unique visitors a month, of which more than half bookmark the site and visit the site at least once

a day (Daily Beast Turns 2).

Although it may be difficult to pinpoint the variety of readers that visit The Daily Beast,

it is probable that its core audience consists of “well-educated, influential adults age 30-50 with

an appetite for global as well as domestic news” (Khidekel). Similarly, visitors of The

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Huffington Post tend to be older, wealthier and are more likely to be male than the average U.S.

internet user (comScore). These readers match the profile of the typical online news consumer;

the median age is 40 years old, they are more educated than other online adults and have higher

income than other adults (Pew Research 2010c).

Even though these sites strive to cover a variety of topics and appeal to a diverse group of

people, both have a significant amount of political coverage. In particular, the amount of people

turning to independent online news sites increased during recent election seasons. This trend was

apparent during the 2008 presidential election, which showed drastic growth in readership

compared to previous elections. In fact, The Huffington Post led the independent news sites with

4.5 million visitors in September of 2008, up 472 percent from the year before. Other similar

sites such as Politico and Drudge Report also saw significant increases (comScore). According to

Andrew Lipsman, the senior analyst at comScore:

“With each new election cycle, the Internet is playing a more significant role in
shaping the stories of the day that are so crucial in formulating public opinion on
issues and candidates...That most mainstream news outlets now have their own
political blogs is a testament to their increasing reach and influence. However,
several independent blogs unaffiliated with larger media outlets paved the way in
this space and are really beginning to enter the mainstream public consciousness
with this current election cycle.”

In-depth political coverage is just one of the ways in which these sites are expanding their

audiences. On November 11, 2010, it was announced that The Daily Beast is partnering with

Newsweek. This will help to increase its audience, drawing more of the readers that typically

turn to established, traditional news sources. As Tina Brown explains:

“I see Newsweek and the Beast as a marriage between Newsweek's journalistic

depth and the vibrant versatility The Daily Beast has realized on the Web. The
metabolism of The Daily Beast will help power the resurgence of Newsweek and
Newsweek amplifies the range of talent and audience The Daily Beast can reach.

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 The two entities together offer writers, photographers and marketers a powerful
dual platform” (The Daily Beast).

With this new partnership, Tina Brown has also shared her desire to increase the number of

female readers. As stated earlier, the majority of readers for many of these sites tend to be male.

According to Brown, “Men want to know what happened. Women want to know what really

happened. It’s not about ‘women’s content;’ it’s the way you edit and assign” (Forbes). With this

new emphasis on the female reader, it is likely that the number of female viewers for The Daily

Beast will increase over the next several years.

In order to be successful and separate themselves from the typical online news site, The

Daily Beast and The Huffington Post take into consideration the uses and gratifications of their

readers. These sites might not be the first choice for those that are simply looking for breaking

news. On the other hand, they may be geared toward the “news junkie”, those that go to multiple

sites throughout the day and already have basic knowledge of current events. These readers may

be looking for a second source, to find opinion pieces, interesting stories around the web, or to

learn about a diverse set of topics.

The creators of these sites are also aware of the importance of social media in today’s

society. Therefore, the sharing elements featured on these sites may make them more desirable to

those that use social networks on a daily basis. Many Internet users are looking for a news source

where they can debate with others, discuss stories with fellow readers and share links via

multiple social networks. Social networking use among Internet users over the age of 50 has

doubled over the past year- increasing from 22 percent to 42 percent and it continues to be most

popular among younger segments of the populations, particularly users 18 to 29 (Pew Research

Center 2010b).

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 In particular, The Daily Beast has marketed itself as an interactive space and has multiple

social media platforms and multimedia available for its readers. This is a reflection of the current

news environment, in which 37 percent of Internet users have contributed to the creation of

news, commented about it, or shared it through social networks such as Facebook or Twitter

(Pew Research Center 2010d). According to the Pew Research Center, “Among those who get

news online, 75% get news forwarded through email or posts on social networking sites and 52%

share links to news with others via those means” (2010d). Because social media use is increasing

across all demographics, online news sites have recognized that incorporating these elements

may contribute to the success of a site.

The Pew Research Center recently found that multimedia content and aggregation are

considered to be two of the most popular features of online news sites, with 48 percent of online

news consumers saying these are important aspects of a site (2010c). The Daily Beast has placed

an enormous amount of importance on both of these features by building stories around photo

and video galleries, as well as incorporating a Cheat Sheet that directs readers to stories around

the web. As evidenced, this growth of independent online news sites is due to multiple features

that online news consumers find important; this includes content that appeals to a variety of

readers.

Content Analysis

The Daily Beast creates as well as aggregates content, keeping its readers informed on a

wide range of topics, from politics to technology to pop culture (Q and A). Through a content

analysis, it was determined what types of content appear on The Daily Beast and which type is

most prevalent. This was determined through an examination of headlines that are visible before

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the user has to scroll. The Daily Beast also aims to be a responsive and interactive space;

therefore, the homepage was examined to analyze what platforms are available to allow

consumers to participate in the conversation, in addition to what forms of multimedia are present.

In this content analysis, the population is online news websites and the particular news

site that will be examined is The Daily Beast. Content on the homepage of The Daily Beast was

analyzed over a period of three days, November 2, 2010 through November 4, 2010. On each

day, the site was examined at 10:00 pm and the primary unit of analysis is The Daily Beast’s

homepage.

The articles on the various sections of the homepage were categorized based on topic:

General election news, specific candidate or political figure, political issue (such as healthcare or

the economy), celebrity related, pop culture (including TV, movies, art, music, and fashion),
nd
other, and advertisement. Considering November 2 was Mid-term election night, it is not

surprising that over the period of three days, political stories were the most prevalent type of

news on the homepage. When visiting The Daily Beast, the viewer's eye will be drawn to the

main headline displayed in large capital letters at the top of the screen. Over the three days, these
rd
headlines were all related to politics. For example, on November 3 the headline concerned

Nancy Pelosi and the third night, although not election related, hinted to the country’s economic

state, stating “Dow closes at a two-year high”.

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 The prominent article slideshow is the main area where new stories are advertised. Here

there is a relevant image, main headline and brief description of the full length article that the

viewer can click to read. The slideshow typically displays nine main stories. Each night, five out

of the nine stories (55%) were related to politics. After the period of three days and 27 slides

total, fifteen stories covered a politically related topic. As for other categories, three were

celebrity related, three covered pop culture, three fell into “other” and three advertisements

appeared (one each night). After analyzing this main slide show, a pattern clearly emerged. Each

night, even on election night, five slides maximum were on a political topic, showing that The

Daily Beast attempts to remain consistent, as well as maintain its diversity on topics covered.

The following graph clearly depicts the consistency of the topics over the total period of three

days (27 articles).

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 Another area advertising content by Beast writers is on the right side of the homepage,

where five articles are highlighted. While the majority of the stories were politically related,

there was always at least one story on a completely unrelated topic. For example, in addition to

“The wackiest candidate awards”, there were also articles such as “Inside Vampire Diaries.”

Over the selected timeframe, 60 percent of the stories had a political context, while the

remaining 40 percent covered other topics, including crime, celebrity gossip and health.

As mentioned, a main function of The Daily Beast is to sift and aggregate content from

around the web for its visitors. The site accomplishes this function with “The Cheat Sheet”, an

additional unit of analysis. Political news continued to be the most prevalent topic in this area.

On election night, every story on the Cheat Sheet was related to election news, informing

viewers about what candidates were winning in which states. Over the next two nights, the
rd th
stories returned to covering a range of topics. On November 3 and 4 , at least three stories on
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the Cheat Sheet were related to other subjects, including celebrities and pop culture. However,

out of 30 headlines over the course of the three days, 77 percent (23 headlines) were political.

In addition to an article Cheat Sheet, The Daily Beast also provides a Video Cheat Sheet.

One video from the Cheat Sheet is featured on the homepage. Over the course of this analysis,

each video was political in context. Most interesting was the third night which seemed to cover a

hybrid of topics, which appears to be typical for the content The Daily Beast produces. The video

featured a clip from Sarah Palin’s new reality show Sarah Palin’s Alaska. While Sarah Palin is a

political figure, she has crossed over to become more of a celebrity. Now that Palin is entering

the world of reality television, she is also cementing her part in our country’s pop culture.

After examining the homepage’s most visible sections, the most prevalent type of content

is political; however, these political topics often did not fall into one single category. In addition

to the video clips featured, these hybrid topics also appear in the articles and slideshows
nd
produced by The Daily Beast. For example, November 2 had a feature on Michelle Obama;

however, the article wasn’t a commentary on her political activities, it was a discussion of her

fashion choices.

Another important element of online news sites is the availability of multimedia. Images

play a huge role for The Daily Beast, with over 30 displayed on the homepage every day. Images

accompany many of the stories, whether it’s a related image or a photo of the author. In addition

to showing images on the homepage, The Daily Beast links to galleries and slideshows. Over the

three days analyzed, there were sixteen links (between five and six each day) placed throughout

the homepage to stories that contain a gallery. In fact, in addition to enhancing stories with

relevant images, The Daily Beast now builds stories around galleries of photos, such as “20 most

dysfunctional star couples” and “The SAG Nominations Gallery”.

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 Each day the Daily Beast only features one video on the homepage, the “Video Cheat

Sheet”; however, similar to images, the site builds stories around video clips, such as “5 Best

Moments from MSNBC Apocalyptic Night”. The headline “Watch this!” can be found

throughout the site, indicating a link to a clip or a story that features video. Although less than

the amount of image links, The Daily Beast had thirteen links on the homepage to video clips

over the three day timeframe. It appears that journalists are also taking the initiative to

incorporate multimedia into their articles. Political reporter Howard Kurtz said in a Twitter

interview session, “At Daily Beast I want to marry reporting, blogging, video and Twitter. Will

be experimenting and tweaking on the fly” (Mediashift). Incorporating digital media into

traditional articles helps to take stories to the next level for readers.

The interactive parts of the site were also analyzed to examine the extent to which The

Daily Beast is a participatory space for its readers. Based off an examination of online news

sites, the entire Daily Beast homepage was evaluated to see if it included share features such as

Facebook, Twitter, Mobile App, Discussion Forum, Live Chat, RSS Feeds and Newsletters/and

or Email Updates. Facebook appears on the homepage alone three times. One place it appears is

in an area titled “Get More Beast”. This part of the site contains permanent links to Twitter, an

iPhone app, and email updates. Through the use of Facebook, The Daily Beast makes the site

more of a personal experience for its readers. At the bottom of the homepage, there is a section

called "Your Friends on the Beast" where a viewer can see friends that have shared Daily Beast

articles.

Both email updates and RSS feeds appear twice on the homepage. In addition to Twitter

appearing in this area, the top of the homepage lists trending topics. This adds to the perception

of The Daily Beast feeling like a "real time space", once again contributing to the social and

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participatory experience that online news has become (Pew Research Center 2010d).

The site has also geared itself toward the technologically-savvy news consumer by

introducing a browser theme that is also advertised in the “Get More Beast” part of the site. The

theme reflects The Daily Beast's dedication to multimedia by being the first ever web browser

theme to include an updating photo gallery in the design. The theme is geared toward the avid

newsreader, much of The Daily Beast's core audience (Brand Thunder). The theme allows

viewers to surf the web while keeping a detailed view of breaking news open in the browser

(Brand Thunder). As Byran Keefer, Director of Product for The Daily Beast, says “Delivering

relevant news into the browser is a great way to keep our community attuned to what’s

happening now...The [photo gallery] feature set allowed us to move beyond simple text and into

something that’s as visually compelling as it is functional” (Brand Thunder). This emphasis on

appearance, as well as functionality has become an integral part of The Daily Beast's identity.

Further increasing the interactivity of the site, Daily Beast hosts live chats with reporters.

On Election Night, a live chat was available with Howard Kurtz. The live chat was advertised

both as the main headline and within the main slideshow, two extremely visible parts of the site,

indicating that The Daily Beast wanted their viewers to be highly aware of this interactive

opportunity. However, since this analysis, it appears there have not been other live chat

opportunities. In addition, there were zero links to comments sections or discussion forums

present on the homepage.

To gain a better understanding of The Daily Beast's interactive elements, it is also

essential to visit article pages. Here The Daily Beast gives news consumers the opportunity to

connect with friends and fellow readers. As a site that is striving to be participatory, The Daily

Beast offers its readers endless outlets to share. A user can click icons that allow them to tweet,

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like, or email an article to a friend. A viewer can also click the “more” icon which leads to a list

of other popular sharing sites. Additionally, the reader may choose to click “view all” which

leads to an extensive list of social networking sites, offering a total of 52 sharing platforms.

In past interviews, Tina Brown has mentioned The Daily Beast's thriving comments

section, claiming there are at least 1,000 commenters who have commented over 1,000 times

(Daily Beast Turns 1). After analyzing several article pages, it appears that the comments section

serves as a popular space for readers to interact with one another. The article "Great Writers

Rescue Obama" had 52 comments 24 hours after it had been initially posted. Surprisingly, none

of the comments were advertisements or off topic. Even the brief comments were expressions of

agreement with another post. Many of the commenters seem to want to discuss the article, not

simply post a comment and never return. In fact, 35 of the comments were replies to another

user's initial post. In one case, a reader used the “@” symbol to indicate that they were

responding to a specific commenter.

The comments sections seem to be an area for heated debate. Many of the comments

were by the same two users exchanging several messages back and forth. In this case, a

conversation between users “Truthseeker1008” and “Prophet0057” accounted for ten of the total

number of comments. However, it also appeared that the extent of comments greatly varied.

After examining three other articles present in the main article slide show, the average number of

comments was 11.6. While the amount of interactivity is most likely influenced by the topic of

the article, it would appear that this is a low number considering the site's message to participate.

While in some cases, the comments section does prove to be a participatory space for

readers, it does not seem to be easy for readers to interact with reporters. The article pages offer

one opportunity for viewers to interact with the writer by offering a large icon that suggests to

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follow that journalist on Twitter. In a conversation with writer Trevor Butterworth, a contributor

to Forbes and The Daily Beast, it was evident that the site encourages its reporters to interact

with readers. However, after scanning multiple articles, it appears that this is not a commonality.

While the site currently presents some opportunities, such as the live chat and Twitter icon, there

is a lack of overall engagement with these journalists. Therefore, while readers have multiple

opportunities to debate with peers and fellow readers, there is limited opportunity to interact with

those who are actually leading the conversation - the reporters.

Overall, The Daily Beast succeeds in consistently producing a variety of content by both

Beast writers and aggregated material. The site also aims to be part of the digital age by regularly

using multiple forms of media in a single article, as well as forming stories around photo and

video galleries. Furthermore, the site features extensive options for its users to share content on

social networks. Readers also receive the opportunity to interact with one another in each

article’s comments section; however, if the site is considering taking this conversation to the next

level, The Daily Beast may want to incorporate more chances to participate in live chats to

interact with both reporters and fellow readers.

Conclusion

As evidenced, the audience of online news websites continues to flourish. In particular,

the audiences of newer, independent sites, such as The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post have

grown dramatically since they were first created. Similar to many online news websites, The

Daily Beast has worked to produce content that appeals to a diverse audience, as well as

incorporate social and interactive elements in order to facilitate and enhance the site's discussion

and community aspect. The Daily Beast has gained the reputation of being one of the most

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technologically savvy news websites, working to combine functionality with interesting visual

elements. Editor-in-chief Tina Brown has emphasized that the site will continue to morph along

with the changing media environment. This mentality most likely holds true for many of today’s

online news sites that are looking to find success in a society over-saturated with options.

In the future, it will be important to examine how online news sites continue to evolve in

their properties and functions. Content analyses should continue to be performed not only to

analyze the properties of online news sites, but also to examine the levels of interactivity that

take place on these sites. It will be important to study both the elements that allow sharing to

occur and the amounts of sharing and interactivity that actually take place. It will also be

interesting to see if the conversation between news reader and reporter increases. With sites such

as The Daily Beast that encourage this type of interactivity, it will be important to examine

whether journalists take the initiative to converse with their audience.

Research should continue to examine how online news sites cater to the uses and

gratifications of readers. While today's news readers want the option to visit multiple platforms,

as well as share and discuss, these may not be the wants of readers in the years to come.

Therefore, future research will address the elements that news sites incorporate in order to

continue to appeal to readers. With the increasing readership of online news, in addition to the

growing options of news websites for readers to choose from, it will be even more important for

online news websites to adjust to the uses and gratifications of the population.

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Baumgartner, Jody, and Jonathan S. Morris. 2006. “The Daily Show Effect: Candidate
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“Brand Thunder and The Daily Beast Launch First-Ever Web Browser Theme with a
Dynamically Updating Photo in the Design”. Brand Thunder. 26 Jan 2010. Web. 14 Dec
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23
 Appendix

General population: Online news websites

Sample: The Daily Beast

Timeframe: November 2, 2010 – November 4, 2010, 10:00 pm

Main Unit of
Analysis: Daily
Beast homepage
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Total
UOA: Main
Slideshow
1 (GOP will take house) 1 (tea
Election News party tidal wave) 1 (election live 1 (Results) 1 (wins) 1 (tea party hurt the gop) 6
chat)
Specific
1 (Rahm Emanuel) 1 (Pelosi) 1
Candidate/Political 1 (Patrick hangs on in Boston) 1 (Sarah Palin) 1 (Obama aloof) 6
(Spitzer comes clean)
Figure
1 (country divided on religion,
Political Issue 1(1994 election) 1 (Obama in Asia) 3
immigrants, etc)
1 (Rebab Image) 1 (stars who
Celebrity Related 1 (Dysfunctional couples) 3
get stoned)
Pop Culture
1 (Michelle Obama fashion) 1 (gay TV characters) 1 (Grey’s resurgence) 3
(TV/music/fashion)
Other 1 (trial) 1 (testing Blekko) 1 (trial) 3
advertisement 1 (MSNBC) 1 (GE) 1 Wingnuts 3

UOA: Cheat Sheet

1 (net loss for women in
1 (pat quinn wings illinois) 1
Election News 1 (GOP will win house) congress) 1 (still no winners in 5
(gop civil war begins)
AK)
Specific 1 (Pelosi) 1 (GOP #3 steps 1 (Bush approved) 1 (fox no plan
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 (all what
Candidate/Political down) 1(Obama takes to hire o’donnell) 1 (Palin 15
candidates are winning)
Figures responsibility) favorites racist on twitter)
Political Issue
1 (fed buying treasury bonds) 1
(health care, 1 (dow back to pre-crash levels) 3
(Health care veto?)
economy, etc)
1 (poster for mel gibson’s new
Celebrity Related 1 (Bristol not voting) 2
movie)
Pop Culture 1 (daily show beats leno,
1
(TV/music/fashion) letterman)
1 (30 tons of pot in mexico) 1 1 (microsoft kinect racist?) 1
Other 4
(FB new phone features) (world’s oldest woman dies)
advertisement 0

UOA: Main
Headline
Election Live Chat with Howard
Election News 1
Kurtz
Specific
Pelosi on her tenure: job well
Candidate/Political 1
done
Figure
Political Issue
(health care, DOW closes at two year high 1
economy, etc)
Celebrity Related 0
Pop Culture 24 0
(TV/music/fashion)
Other 0
advertisement 0
UOA: Headlines on
Right
1 (7 concession speech don’t
Election News 1 (what to watch) 2
do’s)
Specific
1 (My speech for Obama) 1
Candidate/Political 1 (Wackiest Candidate Awards) 1 (Interview with Barbour) 4
(Harry Reid)
Figure
Political Issue
1 (Al Queda) 1 (employment
(health care, 1 (international) 3
rate)
economy, etc)
Celebrity Related 1 (Camille Grammer on divorce) 1
Pop Culture
1 (Inside Vampire Diaries) 1
(TV/music/fashion)
1 (Dangerous Dog Breeds) 1 1 (scared of jumbo jet) 1 (fat
Other 4
(crime Amanda Knox) studies go to college)
advertisement 0

UOA:
Share/interactive
elements
Facebook 3 3 3 9
Mobile ap 1 1 1 3
Email updates 2 2 2 6
RSS 1 1 1 3
Link to discussion
0 0 0 0
forum
Link to live chat 2 0 0 2

UOA: Multimedia
Images on
30+ 30+ 30+ 30+
homepage
1 (EW) 1 (EW - same story) 1
1 (dangerous dogs) 1 (michelle 1 (dysfunctional couples) 1 (39
(Michelle Obama fashion) 1
obama fashion) 1 (EW) 1 (stars dangerous breeds) 1 (EW) 1
Links to slideshows (dangerous dogs) 1( fattening 16
who smoke) 1(dysfunctional (100 hottest singles) 1 (stars
halloween candy) 1 (stars who
couples) who smoke)
smoke)
Videos on homepage 1 1 1 3
1 (cheat sheet) 1 (main 1 (5 best moments from
slideshow Bert gay story) 1 MSNBC) 1 (link from cheat
1 (under cheat sheet) 1 (13
(concession speech don’t do’s) sheet) 1 (TV characters gay) 1
Links to videos movie tricks) 1 (Scorcese Horror 13
1 (5 best moments from (concession speech do’s and
movies)
MSNBC election night) 1 (13 don’ts) 1 (13 movie tricks
movie tricks) revealed)
Audio clip 0

25