Newspapers are fairly new to interactive Web sites and have copied the models of other sites without thinking it through, Batey said.Some readers who see offensive comments on the Chronicle’s Web site assume the newspaper endorses those points of view, she said.
“Newspapers can have a high level of discourse or a lot of traffic,” she said.
“They’re going to have to make that Sophie’s choice.”
But editors who are confused about how to facilitate a discussion among their readers can take comfort in the fact that even the giant Internet sites are wrestling with the same problems.
In December, readers of news stories on Yahoo noticed something missing.
The comments section had been pulled and replaced with a message that complained a small number of vocal users were dominating the discussions.
It promised the message boards would return in a format that “fosters a better discussion for all of our readers.”
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