Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions

Initially offered as a digital public sphere forum, comments sections became the preferred democratic arena for gatekeepers to encourage their readers to engage in constructive dialogue about relevant issues. However, news sites require commenters to remain civil in their interactions, which led use...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Castellano Parra, Orge, Meso Ayerdi, Koldobika, Peña Fernández, Simón
Format: article
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universidad del País Vasco
Repository:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/42776
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/42776
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:social sciences
communication
journalism
audiences
online media
social media
digital communication
online journalism
digital journalism
newspapers
discourse ethics
native digital media
new media
usergenerated content
id ES_affef87ec982f1f2e20faed4e6869b49
oai_identifier_str oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/42776
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News DiscussionsCastellano Parra, OrgeMeso Ayerdi, KoldobikaPeña Fernández, Simónsocial sciencescommunicationjournalismaudiencesonline mediasocial mediadigital communicationonline journalismdigital journalismnewspapersdiscourse ethicsnative digital medianew mediausergenerated contentInitially offered as a digital public sphere forum, comments sections became the preferred democratic arena for gatekeepers to encourage their readers to engage in constructive dialogue about relevant issues. However, news sites require commenters to remain civil in their interactions, which led users to seek alternative ways of commenting on the news. This article explores in-depth the contents of a sample of 98,426 user-comments collected between February March 2019 from three major Spanish digital native newspapers: ElDiario.es, ElEspañol.com, and ElConfidencial.com. The main goals were to analyze whether comments in news outlets are deliberative, to assess the quality of the debate that takes place in them, and to describe their specific features. Discourse ethics were explored to determine the discussions’ impact, the language used, the acceptance of arguments, and the recognition and civility of participants. Findings reveal that comments sections in news outlets do not have a dialogic nature and that the debates have a low-quality profile. Nonetheless, the degree of mutual respect in interaction is acceptable, with slightly observed levels of incivility. Finally, the data suggest that the focused comments are higher on social media and that memes and emojis represent a new form of digital discourse.This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry o fScience, Innovation and Universities (“News, Networksand Users in the Hybrid Media System: Shared Creationand Dissemination of News in Online Media,” RTI2018-095775-B-C41). It was carried out within the Consoli-dated Research Group ‘Gureiker’ (A) (IT1112-16), fundedby the Basque GovernmentCogitatio Press202020202020info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10810/42776reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigacióninstname:Universidad del País VascoInglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICINN/RTI2018-095775-B-C41/https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/2724info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/© 2020 by the authors; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/427762026-06-18T09:23:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions
title Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions
spellingShingle Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions
Castellano Parra, Orge
social sciences
communication
journalism
audiences
online media
social media
digital communication
online journalism
digital journalism
newspapers
discourse ethics
native digital media
new media
usergenerated content
title_short Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions
title_full Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions
title_fullStr Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions
title_full_unstemmed Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions
title_sort Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Castellano Parra, Orge
Meso Ayerdi, Koldobika
Peña Fernández, Simón
author Castellano Parra, Orge
author_facet Castellano Parra, Orge
Meso Ayerdi, Koldobika
Peña Fernández, Simón
author_role author
author2 Meso Ayerdi, Koldobika
Peña Fernández, Simón
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv social sciences
communication
journalism
audiences
online media
social media
digital communication
online journalism
digital journalism
newspapers
discourse ethics
native digital media
new media
usergenerated content
topic social sciences
communication
journalism
audiences
online media
social media
digital communication
online journalism
digital journalism
newspapers
discourse ethics
native digital media
new media
usergenerated content
description Initially offered as a digital public sphere forum, comments sections became the preferred democratic arena for gatekeepers to encourage their readers to engage in constructive dialogue about relevant issues. However, news sites require commenters to remain civil in their interactions, which led users to seek alternative ways of commenting on the news. This article explores in-depth the contents of a sample of 98,426 user-comments collected between February March 2019 from three major Spanish digital native newspapers: ElDiario.es, ElEspañol.com, and ElConfidencial.com. The main goals were to analyze whether comments in news outlets are deliberative, to assess the quality of the debate that takes place in them, and to describe their specific features. Discourse ethics were explored to determine the discussions’ impact, the language used, the acceptance of arguments, and the recognition and civility of participants. Findings reveal that comments sections in news outlets do not have a dialogic nature and that the debates have a low-quality profile. Nonetheless, the degree of mutual respect in interaction is acceptable, with slightly observed levels of incivility. Finally, the data suggest that the focused comments are higher on social media and that memes and emojis represent a new form of digital discourse.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
2020
2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10810/42776
url http://hdl.handle.net/10810/42776
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICINN/RTI2018-095775-B-C41/
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/2724
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cogitatio Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cogitatio Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
instname:Universidad del País Vasco
instname_str Universidad del País Vasco
reponame_str Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
collection Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,300719

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