We’ve all seen them — the endless comments that readers leave on news stories posted online. While not everyone can get an opinion letter into the paper, everyone can write their two cents online. But do comments really belong tagged on the end of articles?
Newspapers want to be, or at least appear, accountable to their readers and since not everyone can get their opinion letter printed, many papers have offered up free space at the end of articles to allow comments — with very little, if any, restriction. The comments rarely have a point, or something interesting to add, and tend to reveal that the author did not in fact actually read the news article.
I think this is one of those cases where the the majority ruins it for the minority (which is really a reversal from the normal turn of events). If newspapers can’t control what people are saying at the bottom of their articles, by having to edit or delete the comments before posting, then they should just get rid of them completely or place them in a separate discussion forum, away from the actual article.
In looking for comments for this post, I actually discovered that CNN.com, while allowing readers to comment on most stories, does not seem to allow comments for political stories — a smart move since most comments seen on USA Today deal with politics.
As of right now, the story posted on USA Today about the passage of the housing bill has 409 comments (and only 38 recommendations).
Included in those comments:
The American dream, murdered by Senator Christopher Dodd
Pelosi,Obama,Hillary were to busy sipping champayne.
Another USA Today article on a poll about race in the presidential election has 545 comments and only 22 recommendations. Enlightening comments include:
An obvious racist running for the presidency, such as Obamba, helps to create a divide between blacks and whites. Obamba is NOT to be trusted by anyone.
Are you kidding me?!?! Should Oblah-blah win the Presidency the divide will widen. He will do everything in his power to correct the wrongs of 200 years ago – even though he was never “owned” and no one alive today ever owned any slaves.
Like grandma used to say…. “He who feels it, knows it!”
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