[FORUM] Are online comments doomed?

[rfmcdpei]

Russell Smith's article in The Globe and Mail "Say bye to the online comment section as you know it", published last Wednesday the 23rd, looked at the trend in Canadian online media towards getting rid of comments sections. They were, simply put, more trouble than they were worth.

Has one of the great promises of the Internet finally shown to be

Comments

[anonymous]

About time, honestly.

The Star wasn't as bad as some places, but the level of outright lying* in the comments was astounding. The same people would spout the same stuff on practically every story I read, no matter what the story was about. A lot of their comments were cut-and-paste from the American Tea Party. Given that one of the paid-for tactics used in the US was to flood the comments sections of news stories with biased comments, I did wonder it I was seeing a neocon political campaign. (Although it could easily have been Heather Mallick's grumpy old men in pajamas.)

*Or pigheadedly determined ignorance, if you want to be generous.

[vaneramos]

Although it's getting harder for journalists to make a living, Smith's final sentence gives me hope. And I believe it to be true. Among the most important and useful things I learned at journalism school was the ethics of the business. Anyone with an internet connection can write and be published, but most writers don't understand how to avoid bias in their work. The internet has turned news reporting on its head, but in the end I believe there will remain a demand for those who strive for balanced, informed writing. Gatekeepers will (and must) survive.