Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract Many news organizations invite readers to post online comments to news stories. Comments may get posted automatically and most are signed with pseudonyms. Many are insensitive, even rude, and use speculation and language that would be rejected if written by a staff member or in a letter to the editor. Are news organizations holding true to their ethical guidelines when they publish anonymous reader comments on their Web sites while rejecting them for their hard-copy editions? Notes 1. This article deliberately does not address the following: any survey to describe the practical use of and any limits placed on such comments, the technological challenges of accepting, sorting or restricting such comments, the legal issues raised by reader-generated content or any general use of information from readers submitted as citizen journalists.
Hlavach et al. (Fri,) studied this question.