Coproduction or cohabitation: Are anonymous online comments on newspaper websites shaping news content?

Abstract

The technology that allows readers to post anonymous online comments on newspaper websites gives readers unprecedented opportunities to participate, but poses challenges to the journalistic value of transparency, practice of gatekeeping, and conception of expertise. This nationwide survey of 583 U.S. journalists explores whether the technology has affected their work practices, workplaces, or news coverage. The study, grounded in social shaping of technology theories, finds that journalists are not opposed to sharing their web platforms with readers' comments, but dislike user anonymity and ignore reader input. Despite the technological affordance that provides journalists a means to receive instant, global feedback from readers, journalists are maintaining their jurisdiction over news content and are not participating with readers in mutual shaping.This study finds that journalistic norms and conceptions of expertise prevent journalists from engaging with readers.

Fair game? Journalists’ experiences of online abuse

“…It may also mean journalists are reluctant to admit to self-censorship. This is a known issue in terms of 'worthy but dull' stories and commercial pressures in the West (Pew Research Center, 2000;Kalven, 2010) and in less democratic countries (Hughes, 2013) but is only beginning to be understood in terms of anonymous online comments shaping news in democratic countries (Nielsen, 2014).…”

The Imagined Audience for and Perceived Quality of News Comments: Exploring the Perceptions of Commenters on News Sites and on Facebook

“…Scholars have examined news comment sections to understand the impact of interactivity and other content features (Weber, 2014;Ziegele, Breiner, & Quiring, 2014), the quality of news comments (Coe et al, 2014;Rowe, 2015aRowe, , 2015bSantana, 2014), motivations for commenting (Springer, Engelmann, & Pfaffinger, 2015;Stroud et al, 2016), personal characteristics of news commenters (Wu & Atkin, 2017), and the influence of news comments on users' evaluation of news articles and social issues (Anderson, Brossard, Scheufele, Xenos, & Ladwig, 2014;Prochazka et al, 2016) and their future commenting behaviors (Rösner & Krämer, 2016). In addition, from the perspective of journalists, there have been a number of studies of how reporters and editors react to and negotiate the value of news comments (e.g., Loke, 2012;Nielsen, 2014;Robinson, 2010).…”

Given Enough Eyeballs, All Crimes are Shallow - The Organizing of Citizen Collaboration to Solve an Online Detective Story

“…Media with fewer social cues often trigger hopes that people will become more equal and more valued for their minds than their social identities, but also raise fears that interactions, identities, and relationships will become increasingly shallow, untrustworthy and inadequate. (Baym, 2010) Similarly, Nielsen (2014) found in a study on online comments on newspaper websites that the anonymity of commenters tend to downgrade their real impact on journalists' engagement with readers. Anonymity can thus lead to reduced interconnectedness and increased awkward social behavior among users (Baym, 2010).…”