I am a writer. I've been a journalist for a long time, and when I first started out in this business - well, let's just say it is different now.
I am in the midst of a very serious story, and it involves a fatality. Someone from the area where I live was killed in another state, so some information was available from the newspaper in that state.
When I got online to view that news story, I scrolled through to read the comments posted by readers. It used to be that a reader who wanted to comment on a topic, or a story, had to write a letter to the editor. At the newspapers I have worked, that letter also had to include a valid telephone number, and the full name of the person writing the letter. If either of those things were missing, or turned out to be bogus, the letter didn't run in the paper.
As I read what turned out to be a brief (very short story) about this incident, and then read the comments people had left below it, I literally felt sick. The story was about a tragic fatality, and the comments ranged from blaming the deceased, to rants on politics and taxes in the local community - and even degenerated into scathing remarks that went on and on between the people leaving comments.
I believe that newspapers have to change in order to retain and add readers, but I'm not so sure that people should be allowed to just click and spew. I think I liked it better when it took a little more effort to make a comment, and the comment had a full name attached to it.
1 comment:
People should have to leave their real name and a verified e-mail address or something. They'll say anything if they can hide behind their computer.
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