User Comments and Moderation in Digital Journalism

This book is an authoritative discussion of user comments and moderation in digital journalism, examining how user comments have disrupted the field of journalism and how a growing number of news organizations have abandoned commenting features altogether.

Making a broad argument concerning user commentary as a manifestation of user engagement and public deliberation, User Comments and Moderation in Digital Journalism: Disruptive Engagement conceptualizes the act of commenting as interactive engagement and participation in a virtual public sphere. The book also explores the organizational policies that have the potential to disrupt – as well as improve – the quality of user discussions. Ultimately, strategies are proposed for managing and improving user comments and encouraging more productive public deliberation in digital journalism.

This engaging discussion of a key development in digital journalism is a valuable resource for academics and researchers in the areas of journalism, media and communication studies.

Thomas B. Ksiazek holds a PhD from Northwestern University, USA, and is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Villanova University, USA. His research interests include new forms of user engagement with the news, implications of audience behavior for society and the field of journalism, patterns of cross-platform media use, and the application of network analysis to the consumption and production of media.

Nina Springer (Dr. phil., LMU Munich, Germany) is an associate professor in the Journalism Department at Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden. Her research focuses on journalists-audience-interactions and the journalistic profession. In the realm of commentary features, she investigated commenters’ motives and contributions to viewpoint diversity, as well as comments’ use for and their effects on audiences and journalists alike.