The role of blogs as news sources : a study of audiences and news professionals in Thailand

This thesis investigates the use and perceived credibility of news blogs among news consumers and news professionals in Thailand. Data was obtained on three reader blog communities linked to Thai online newspapers – OKnation, The Nation Weblog and Mblog. The study examined why blogging exists as a component of mainstream news provision, the attention of users to news blogs, the diversity and the quality of news blogs, and degrees of association between claimed use of news blogs and attitudes of users. Theoretically, it drew upon uses and gratifications and news credibility research. This research employed three research methods: online questionnaires with news blog users, interviews with news professionals, and content analysis with the three reader blog communities. The findings of the study indicate that news blogs were a component of mainstream news provision for some Thai news organisations. In order to attract visitors and use as sources, four out of 15 online newspapers (26%): Komchadluek, Bangkokbiznews, The Nation and ASTV Manager provided blogs for the general public where they could share news and interesting stories. News blog users tended to be male, 41–60 years old, highly educated, and self-employed, with a high income. They used the Internet, consumed television news and read newspapers both offline and online very often but scarcely consumed radio news. OKnation was by far the most popular news blog community. One out of two blog users wrote approximately one news blog story per week. Political surveillance and opinion seeking were the top two news blog use motives. News blogs produced by individuals were rated as less credible than mainstream news reports in the view of audiences and news professionals. Most of news professionals emphasised that news blogs helped them to improve the quality, but not the diversity, of mainstream news reports.