T
Terence Zimwara
he age of internet has
revolutionized
media
and
journalism in ways that were
unimaginable a few years ago.
The speed with which news is reaching
audiences is unprecedented yet it is one
feature of online news that has changed
how media organizations present their
news- comments by readers.
Comments are now part and parcel
of news, more and more people seem
interested in making their feelings known
concerning a particular story. Similarly,
other readers are more concerned with
such comments rather than the actual
story.
Comments show how the audience is
engaged in a particular topic, in some
cases there are options for readers to
show their approval or disapproval of the
story.
So for journalists writing a good story
means writing a piece that generates great
deal of feedback. To illustrate, earlier this
year an American tourist, Walter Palmer,
shot and killed a lion named Cecil. Once
the story got published, there was an
instant and ferocious feedback and soon
the story became a headline around the
world.
What seemed like a simple lion
trophy hunt turned into a nightmare for
Mr Palmer as readers reacted angrily
to the killing with many calling for
his prosecution. There is no doubt the
journalist who broke the story did not
anticipate this kind of interest but
this story underlines just how
the media has evolved.
Consequently,
some
media
houses
and
advertisers now pay more attention to
reader comments than the story itself
because of the debates that sometimes
start from the story. A publication that
constantly gets good feedback means
people or potential customers are visiting
the website in the case of advertisers.
Sometimes a story may lack certain
information and readers will often post
the missing facts from a story. There is no
doubt the debates generated by readers
are quite useful to all stakeholders, they
educate, correct and sometimes they even
shape public opinion on certain matters.
However, experiences by other media
houses have shown that reader comments
could be used by people with hidden
motives to stir emotive and sometimes
dangerous debates. Racists or tribalists
have found the comments section of
media outlets, an important tool in their
quest to stir sedition or racial tensions.
Unfortunately, because of such
comments, the value of the story itself
gets lost as readers begin to pay more
attention to side issues raised by others. To
illustrate, one very popular Zimbabwean
news website is known to be a good
hunting ground for those promoting
agendas that divert readers to something
completely unrelated to the story.
Recently a story concerning the
mispronunciation of the country’s Vice
President’s name was carried by the
publication. However, the comments
that followed were nothing short of hate
speech and outright show of intolerance
by some anonymous
readers.
In fact, Zimbabwean media houses are
not the only ones facing this problem of
mean comments posted anonymously.
It is a global problem that comes with
the interactive nature of today’s newsinternet trolls.
An internet troll is one who purposely
and deliberately starts an argument in a
manner which attacks others on a forum
without in any way listening to the
arguments proposed by his or her peers.
He will spark off such an argument with
no substance or relevance to back them.
Consequently, some media houses now
have strict rules for anyone who wants to
post a comment while others have banned
comments completely. Popular Science
officially shut off its comment section
two years ago, pointing to research
showing that disagreeable comments
hurt the reading experience. Or, at least,
the reading comprehension.
This followed a study out of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, which
found that mean comments under an
article about nanotechnology “polarized
readers,” taking attention away from the
story an