Reporters: How to respond to comments
Reporters getting involved in story comments has long been taboo in most newsrooms. And I don't blame them: Most comments are often the darkest thoughts of otherwise normal individuals.
Mixing it up with a surly gang of commenters requires tact and guts. Fortunately, reporters have both.
By responding to comments, reporters can go a long way to improve the level of interaction on their news site as well as better their journalism.
Knoxville News-Sentinel reporter Jamie Satterfield responds to a users' comment on a story she wrote. The red "staff" label is created for all staff members posting comments on Scripps' news Web sites.
The Web site of the Knoxville News-Sentinel has long been one of Scripps' most active in terms of comments. Tens of thousands are posted each month with many hundreds removed because they aren't up to snuff.
Heck, they've even held in-person round-tables with members of the community to discuss how to improve the scene.
Though vile comments can be posted to any story at any time, most attach themselves to stories that touch on crime, race, politics and religion. A recent example is the torture/slaying trial for the Channon Christian, Christopher Newsom murders.
One of the accused in the Christian/Newsom case has already been convicted to life in prison without parole. The next trial for alleged ringleader Lemaricus Davidson will be underway in the middle of this month. Stories about both have already attracted huge page views and requisite comments.
But KNS reporter Jamie Satterfield has taken a the innovative (for the news industry) to walk amongst the trolls. She has posted some 50 responses to comments on those stories in an effort to help readers understand more about the case.
To borrow Scripps' mission: Satterfield is shining light in an area of the Web site where rumor and opinion runs wild. And perhaps not surprisingly, when users see that a reporter is responding to their questions, they take notice. It cuts the riffraff and raises the level of discussion.
In a word, it creates "value" where there was little before. And where would advertisers like their ads to be, a page filled with hate or a page filled with intelligent conversation about a topic important to the community?
Here are some examples of users asking Satterfield questions:
smokies_old_soul writes:
miss satterfield -
with each trial and each endless motion filed by these attorneys as well as each flying accusation being made at each other among these criminals, it seems obvious that trying all of them together, rather than individually, would have been the best way to diminish the confusion created by all the conflicting testimony.
why were these defendants not tried together - who makes that request or that decision ?
who_owns_politics writes:
I'm wondering if there is any legal or other impediment to Boyd eventually being charged by the state of Tennessee for crimes connected to this case beyond the crime he's already been convicted of Federally?
Satterfield also corrects misstatements in several comments as well.
When we launched the recent redesign of KNS' Web site we sought ways to improve how reporters can manage comments on their stories, photos and videos. The most basic method is to identify a staff comment from a user comment: Note the red "staff" by Satterfield's comments on one story.
Other features we've introduced are:
- RSS feed for all comments on a particular piece of content, such as a story
- RSS feed for all comments posted to content by a particular author
Both of these can help reporters keep tabs on the many comments posted by filtering it to content relevant to them.
Though this is probably common sense, I should note that reporters should never interject their opinion into a comment thread. They should remain objective at all times, including through social media, and only seek to correct errors or answer questions from users.
Lastly, you might ask: "Why should reporters respond to comments? Don't they have enough to do? Isn't this the job of online producers?"
Responding to comments is everyone's job really. But in the case of news content being published I think it makes sense for reporters to be the primary responder. They know the content better than anyone. Their responses will also help introduce a new wave of interaction with our sites that is so desired by anyone involved in discussions about social media these days.
For the media types that might be reading this: What is your policy for responding to comments on your content? Please share examples of what has worked and what hasn't in the comments.
Six comments
Over at LJWorld.com, we encourage our reporters to get involved with the comments. We look at a little bit like cops walking a beat. When the cop walks by, everyone stands up a little straighter. Same when the reporter posts a comment: the quality of the dialogue get (a little) better.
In the next few weeks, we're also hosting a series of brownbag-esque meetings to give more reporters the tools to jump into a bad comment string and steer it to something positive. We're hoping that will give more reporters the confidence to take part in those conversation.
Jonathan Kealing Online editor LJWorld.com et al
Very good analogy Jonathan!
I'd enjoy learning more about your brownbags when you get to implementing them.
Interesting stuff, and kudos to the News-Sentinel and Satterfield for not just letting the comments go like some crazy neglected hothouse.
It strikes me that they and all other newspaper sites would do even better if they implemented two more steps:
Let readers give comments thumbs-up/thumbs-down, with ones that fall below a certain level faded by default. Yes, there would be tit-for-tat green- and red-lighting by people who dislike each other's politics, but the really good and really poor comments would stand out and vanish, respectively. To borrow Mr. Kealing's analogy, cops have an easier time walking the beat when citizens are empowered to clean up their own streets.
Moderate users' first five comments. I swiped this idea from Lisa Williams of Placeblogger, and it's a great one -- poor impulse control is part of trolls' makeup, and few of them will be able to be patient that long.
Thanks for the suggestions Jason!
I think the thumbs up/down system works better for sites that rely more on technical information than for a news site. I suspect this system would be heavily abused on our news sites unless we have other checks in place (only allowing certain users to rate, etc).
Citizens empowered to clean up their own streets can take things too far (think Border Patrol).
To your second suggestion: We do this on Scripps sites currently. Anyone that has yet to post a comment as a registered user will be moderated. The primary reason for this was to prevent continuous sign-ups after their previous account was banned. It has worked well for sites like the Naples Daily News.
My thought was that thumbs-up/thumbs-down would indeed be abused, but the truly vile stuff would get voted down more universally, removing it from view. And with partisans canceling each other out, clear-headed folks might serve to elevate good comments. Perhaps that's wishful thinking.
How many comments are moderated? Just the first one, or more than that? Curious how you've seen this work in practice and what tips you have.
Good point that empowerment can breed vigilantes!
I definitely think that it's a good idea to interact with people who are posting on a forum especially if they are asking questions directly of reporters.
I write for an onine media publication which can be quite provocative but I have found that adding a comment here and there will often put a stop to nasty comments when they know the reporter is monitoring the comments.
It's also adds to the debate and discussion and allows the reporter to add additional points that may not have been able to in the original piece with the constrictions of a word count. It's a great way to interact with your readers and also show them that you are listening and responding to their comments.
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