If you go onto the comments section of any major news outlet, it’s incredibly rare for any of the journalists to become engaged in the discussions that their articles provoke.

It’s easy to think that is wholly sensible given the propensity for the subsequent debate to veer into the absurd.  That is bad for a number of reasons.

I wrote recently about a New Zealand study that highlighted how we are influenced by the prejudices that often appear in the comments after a news story.

It revealed that participants who were first exposed to prejudiced comments on the news article were more likely to be prejudiced themselves, both in the unconscious and conscious tests.  Perhaps not surprisingly, these folks were also more likely to leave a prejudiced comment on the news article.

Valuable feedback

Whilst comments can be influential on your readers, a second study from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, highlights how they can also provide authors and publications alike with valuable feedback from readers, not least around the kind of expectations they have of the journalist.

“Traditional journalistic values include traits such as objectivity, truthfulness, and accuracy,” the authors say. “Although most journalists were trained and brought up valuing these ideals, we found that many readers have an additional list of traits that they value in their news reporting.

“Although news organizations don’t necessarily need to readjust what ideals they find important, they should at least understand what their readers value, not only to serve them better, but also to maintain viability.”

The study saw comments from publications such as the Washington Post and New York Times examined in depth for patterns.  A recurring theme emerged around the desire for some more modern journalistic ideals, with readers commonly applying adjectives such as judgmental, inhumane and sanctimonious to the entire publication.

“News organizations, like all businesses, are seeking to establish and build their identities,” the authors say. “In doing so, it is important to know how people view their brand and what standards they hold for you. News leaders need to understand how readers are anthropomorphizing their organizations by applying human adjectives to non-human entities. Understanding this phenomenon can help news organizations better evaluate and address how to best present their brands to the public.”

Whilst it’s unlikely that journalists will suddenly begin to engage with their readers via the comments section, it would appear wise for the comments areas to be monitored nonetheless so that publications can gauge the mood of their readers in real time.