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This study examines journalists’ gatekeeping and audiences’ participation in The New York Times’ (NYT) comment sections. The concepts of affective publics and news gap informed a qualitative content analysis guided by the questions: (1) What are the characteristics of the comments selected for the NYT Picks section? (2) What are the characteristics of the comments selected for the Reader Picks section? (3) What is the overlap between the two types of comment sections depicted in these curated lists? The analysis was conducted on a sample of best comments according to the NYT (563) and its readers (400). Findings reveal that readers and journalists value comment sections differently, only coinciding 17.2% of the time (the comment gap). Both value comment sections as safe spaces for passionate comments. However, while readers reward confrontational, direct, aligned comments, journalists prefer conciliatory, articulate and diverse ones. Implications for gatekeeping theory and boundary work are discussed.
Clara Juarez Miro (2024) studied this question.