Why User Comments Affect the Perceived Quality of Journalistic Content

Patrick Weber · Fabian Prochazka · Wolfgang Schweiger

29 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications

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Media Studies and Communication Journalism and Media Studies Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Abstract

Abstract. User comments on news websites are frequently uncivil and are not supported by reasoned argumentation. These characteristics can have negative effects on the perceived quality of the commented-on journalistic content, yet to date, it remains unclear how such effects occur. We propose three mechanisms that assume that the effect of user comments depends on how deliberately and elaborately the quality of the commented-on news item is judged. We conducted an experiment ( N = 633) in which we varied the level of civility and reasoning in the comments accompanying a news article and the brand of the news website on which it was presented. The results showed that a lack of reasoning in the comments decreased the perceived quality of the news item irrespective of brand awareness, but only with high elaboration during judgment. Incivility in the comments decreased the perceived quality of the journalistic content, but only with low elaboration, and only with an unknown news brand. We discuss different psychological mechanisms that can explain this pattern of effects.

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References

1986Communication and Persuasion 2014Online and Uncivil? Patterns and Determinants of Incivility in Newspaper Website Comments 1985A practical study of argument 1992Reading from paper versus screens: a critical review of the empirical literature 2011Public Sphere 2.0? The Democratic Qualities of Citizen Debates in Online Newspapers 2013Discussions in the comments section: Factors influencing participation and interactivity in online newspapers’ reader comments 2002An Investigation of Elaboration and Selective Scanning as Mediators of Learning From the Web Versus Print 2016Effects of Civility and Reasoning in User Comments on Perceived Journalistic Quality

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