Naslov
Gatekeeping of readers' comments: Moderation on Croatian news sites

Autori
Kunić, Tamara

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
International Media Management Academic Association: Management, Trust, and Value for Media and Creative Work

Mjesto i datum
Porto, Portugal, 20.10.2022. - 22.10.2022

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
gatekeeping theory, readers' comments, news sites, news editors, moderation

Sažetak
In traditional journalism, professional journalists are gatekeepers who filter news, select important events, and relay them to their audience. Citizens play no role in the news process, except as news sources from which journalists gather information and opinions. With the advent of new media and social networks, professional journalism risks being stripped of its gatekeeper position not only by new technologies but also by the audiences it serves. One of the most popular forms of participation in media content creation are readers' comments under professional journalists' news articles, and in the digital sphere they can be an important source of information and public debate. The Internet is an ideal place for discussions between unknown participants, and as Waldman (2014 ; 169) noted, there are no spatial restrictions on expression on the Internet, which means that it is very easy for anyone with access to the Internet to express themselves. Comments on Internet news websites do not discriminate against anyone based on their ideology, the quality of their commentary, or their mental health. As Waldman points out, comments can include people eager for eloquent discussion, but also the biggest social sociopaths (2014 ; 171). It is therefore not surprising that hate speech appears in reader comments, as does the use of hostile language. To regulate readers' comments and maintain gatekeeper position, media organizations hire teams to moderate and remove comments that are reported as unacceptable in terms of comment rules or that violate the law (Ksiazek, Springer, 2020: 77). Javier Diaz Noci and other authors (Diaz-Noci. et al , 2010 ; 3) have found that there are two basic strategies used by media organizations in dealing with readers' comments. The first is based on pre-publication moderation, which means that the people responsible for controlling readers' comments read and evaluate the comments and publish only those that are decent and meet the standards (Diaz-Noci et al, 2010). Another strategy is based on post- publication moderation, where comments are automatically published, but if their content is considered inappropriate, they are removed (Diaz- Noci et al, 2010). The aim of this paper is to analyze the website comment policies of the three most read Croatian news websites to determine what content is prohibited and subject to moderation, and through in-depth interviews with the editors of these portals to find out what moderation models they use and how they regulate the content produced by citizens on their portals. The analysis of the content of the website comment policies and the interviews with the editors showed that the policies are broadly the same, but that most of the moderation depends on the moderator himself and his own ethical standards. In the strategies editors use to communicate with readers, they combine machine and manual moderation of comments. Editors point out that reader participation in media content can be very valuable and useful in many ways, from providing feedback to enriching texts with new information. They also emphasize the need for review of this information and additional editing by professional journalists, which is consistent with research by Oernebring (2013), who found that professional journalists and amateurs differ in their competence in filtering information and adhering to ethical codes and professional principles, especially in reviewing information. Interviews with editors revealed similarities with Nah and Yamamoto's (2015) research, which showed that editors with professional experience better understand the importance of citizen journalists' contributions to creating news and democracy, but working with citizens means that media outlets retain control over readers' content. This work has confirmed that media professionals are still trying to determine their stance toward the potential of citizen contributions, exploring different ways to both give citizens space to freely share their opinions and consider how the space of the digital public sphere should be protected from unacceptable expression and hate speech.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Informacijske i komunikacijske znanosti

POVEZANOST RADA