Silicon Alley Insider point to a survey that says Nearly 73% of respondents sometimes or always use blogs in their research. From the report:

Seventy percent of respondents say public opinion of journalists has gotten worse during the past five years, and 52% believe the general public has a “somewhat negative” opinion of journalists.

Nearly 73% of respondents sometimes or always use blogs in their research. The most often cited reason for using blogs was “to measure sentiment.”