In Moderation

Abstract

Journalism has a vital role in fostering communities by providing a forum for public criticism and compromise. The internet has markedly changed news organizations' abilities to fulfill this role. Through two surveys—one of more than 100 online newspaper editors and one nationwide survey of more than 1000 internet users—this study extends community journalism online by examining what role, if any, journalists have in online community formation. Specifically, the study focuses on comments at the end of news stories and suggests that the more comments a newspaper receives on a daily basis negatively affects how journalists see their audiences and could discourage their participation in online community formation. On the other hand, the second study suggests that encouragement from journalists might be a key factor in whether people will comment. Whether participants noticed moderation in comments was a significant predictor in how frequently they posted. The key predictor of participation, however, was whether participants felt a virtual sense of community with the news organization. The study suggests that journalists need to be involved in online comment forums to build virtual communities and achieve the ideals of community journalism.