Studying the intersection of journalism, interactive communications and public discourse
Online comments sections are our modern day venues for collaboration, for public discourse, for democratic deliberation. The internet was supposed to even the playing field for participation. But for many women, wading into the incivility of online comments or social media exchanges is like walking alone down a scary back alley, or into an angry …
The contentious post-election climate has left many Americans wondering how our democracy became so spiteful. I think it’s time to heap some blame on online comments. The ability to say offensive things online on a daily basis without consequences has led to new, and more harmful, norms for civic behavior. Toxic fuming online, ad hominem …
Around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10, I discovered through my Twitter feed a thoughtful column about the potential makeup of the United States Supreme Court when Donald J. Trump becomes president. The commentary piece, “Don’t Expect the Supreme Court To Change Much,” was written by Cass R. Sunstein, an academic I admire, and published 16 …
I’ve spent two mind-numbing weeks watching the national political conventions. The online comments surrounding them? Fear, loathing, anger, hype, snark. So much polarization. All mistrust and motivated reasoning. Just take a glimpse at WSJ’s Blue Feed, Red Feed for realtime examples. “Live chat” comments on YouTube live streams of the #RNCinCLE and #DemsinPhilly conventions were undoubtedly the …
“My mood, I say, was one of exaltation. I felt as a seeing man might do, with padded feet and noiseless clothes, in a city of the blind. I experienced a wild impulse to jest, to startle people, to clap men on the back, fling people’s hats astray, and generally revel in my extraordinary advantage.” …
What is social media? It’s a billboard a live broadcast channel an archive and a library. It’s also a conversation. Unscripted and unpredictable. A customer service feedback line and a crowd-sourcing tool. It’s a polling center a debate arena an angry mob and an echo chamber. Social media is a snark machine. It offers publishing …
Back in mid-November 2015, I attended the Association of Opinion Journalists Minority Writers Seminar on a fellowship. During the four day workshop at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, I banged out a rough personal essay about what happened the first time I assigned my journalism students to use Twitter. It was a commentary …
I spend a lot of my time mulling over ways for journalists to elevate online discourse on news stories. Below is a presentation I gave at the 2015 Excellence in Journalism conference in Orlando, FL on September 18. Joining me was Talia Stroud of the Engaging News Project. My prepared script for “To Comment or …
The Daily Beast announced on August 19, 2015 that it was removing the commenting function from its website. “We have noticed that the conversation around our articles is increasingly happening on social networks, not in the commenting section. More and more of you are reaching out directly to our authors to engage in lively and …
A new online news channel from Vice launched this week. It’s got a great name – Broadly – that gives props to its target audience: women, feminists in particular. Editor-in-chief Tracie Egan Morrissey told Wired in an August 3 interview that she wants Broadly to “drive conversations about women for women, telling true stories that other places …