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When Journalists go “Below the Line”

When Journalists go “Below the Line”

Seminar by: Scott Wright (University of Melbourne)
When: Fri. 1 June 2018,
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm AEST
Where: MECO Seminar Room S226, John Woolley Building A20
University of Sydney

When Journalists go “Below the Line”: Engaging with the audience in comment spaces at The Guardian (2006-2017)

Scott Wright, Associate Professor in Political Communication, The University of Melbourne

This paper longitudinally analyses how journalists at The Guardian engage with their audience in comment spaces, using an overarching quantitative analysis of comments; a content analysis of the comments by journalists; and interviews with journalists. The paper finds that the total number of comments has risen exponentially (n=110m). Journalist participation in comments varies significantly, with a small number of “super-participants”. There is a very strong pattern, with journalist comments rising rapidly until 2012, before declining quickly. Interviews find that this pattern is explained by the huge increase in the volume of comments; changes in editorial priorities; and a shift to engagement to Twitter. When journalists comment, they engage in a wide variety of actions, including arguing and debating, providing further information, correcting errors, and defending their journalism practice.

Scott Wright is Associate Professor in Political Communication at the University of Melbourne. His work focuses on: everyday online political talk, particularly in ‘third spaces’; how moderation and interface design affect online political communication; ‘super-participants’; and government-run e-democracy experiments such as e-petitions and consultations.