Memorandum Colors is an interesting tool that allows you to visualize bias based on linking activity so you can see the slant of coverage of political events without having to read anything. God bless color coordination.
It’s an especially interesting tool when applied to the recent case of Ashley Todd, the McCain volunteer in Pittsburg who said she was robbed and then assaulted based on her support of McCain but then recanted a day later. My apologies for falling for it. But I certainly wasn’t alone.
Where Memorandum comes into this story is a before and after shot of the coverage of the story:
As Andy Baio (creator of the Memorandum Colors script) says in the photo’s comments:
At first, conservative blogs flock to the story while liberal blogs tend to ignore it… Then, when it’s discredited, mostly blue bloggers report on it for the first time while less conservative blogs post a followup.
This is also a reflection of reaction and comments I saw first hand in conversations with others. Left leaning individuals were shocked at the news but a bit hesitant to buy it and witholding judgment accordingly. Right leaning individuals were disgusted and ran with it. Some were hesitant and waiting for more information, but still jumped at the story.
The moral of this story?
This has been and will continue to be a crazy political year and people will do stupid things.
And Memorandum Colors is a neat tool.
