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The SOPA/PIPA Blackout: Two Ecologies of Discussion

Submitted by Ty Alyea on Tue, 2012-01-24 01:08
Sopa hash map
As we discussed yesterday, January 18's SOPA "blackout" generated a massive reaction that catalyzed a collapse in legislative support for the Congressional Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).  Today, I will explore how some analysts are currently using images to depict SOPA's notoriety on the web during the blackout and, additionally, chart out SOPA/PIPA's relative obscurity in the realm of primetime television news before the blackout.
TV coverage of SOPA
In the months before the blackout, SOPA and PIPA receved very little coverage by organs of the mainstream television media such as MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN--all of which are owned by parent companies that were in favor of the bill's tough legislative stance against piracy. MediaMatters.org -- a left-leaning media watchdog -- released a study demonstrating that SOPA was mentioned in two prime-time segments released between October 26th, 2011 and January 12th 2012. This is less than one-twentieth of the coverage devoted to the British royal family and the conduct of Tim Tebow, the quarterback for the Denver Broncos. SOPA coverage was also dwarfed by coverage of Alec Baldwin's confrontation with a flight attendant and Kim Kardashian's divorce. 
Looking at the circulation of Internet discussions about SOPA, Steven Kwon's study (published at GeneralSentiment.com) highlights the tremendous size of the SOPA/PIPA blackouts as internet events. As pictured in the image at the top of this article, the SOPA/PIPA blackout received more buzz on the web than some of 2011's most hyper-mediated events; it received more attention than the 2011 super bowl and Oprah's finale combined. 

It is possible that the absence of televised attention toward SOPA and PIPA had a negative impact on the bills. On one hand, it fed into a growing opinion that media companies wanted to push the legislation through without public consent. On the other hand, this neglect did little to foster support for the bills. Steven Kwon argues that less than 1% of twitter-driven traffic offered support to SOPA or PIPA.

sopa on Twitter
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