Published September 11, 2020
When I started working as the editor-in-chief of The Reykjavík Grapevine in 2017, the news editor asked me a simple question: What is my opinion on the comment sections of news articles?
My answer was not simple. But the simplest answer I could give her was, it’s complicated. I hate them, but somehow I feel the freedom they give readers. An active comment section can keep the media on their toes. Readers’ reviews have even helped me in the past, when I worked as a journalist, to add more information to the story.
We had a simple discussion about it, where we raised the importance of the comment section on grapevine.is and our thoughts revolved around questions: Do the comments add anything to the stories we are publishing? And what’s more, are we able to actively manage the comment section? The answer to both questions was “no”. So we decided to close the comment section as an experiment and see what would happen. In short, nothing happened. Readers were still free to comment on articles on Grapevine’s Facebook page, but the difference was that we were not the party’s hosts in the same way as if the comments were directed to Grapevine.is. We do, however, make modest comments on Facebook; we do not allow racism or hate speech. There is a simple rule to follow.
The reason why I am moving this is because of two girls who were thrown into the British and Icelandic media recently when two English footballers invited them to their hotel room in Reykjavík, thereby breaking the law on quarantine. The players were fined 250,000 ISK (about 1,300 GBP) and despite not breaking any rules, the girls were brutally slut in the comment sections of the Icelandic and British media.
This was revealing. Sexuality is still very much alive, if anyone was wondering. But it also showed, at least in Iceland, that the Icelandic comment sections are largely uncontrolled. This proved to be the most difficult for Icelandic girls.
We have seen examples of public embarrassment over and over again, as well as all kinds of bullying. And much of it is hosted by reputable media organizations. The comment section may have been useful in the beginning, but things have changed. There is no one left in these comment sections who has anything far-fetched to say. Although we value some views, they are for the most part more than hatred, too quick a judgment and often, just basic stupidity.
It’s easy to tell people to ignore it, but there are still inflammatory comments that stand out even after reading what could be a well-analyzed and considered article. It pulls everything down. I’m not saying that we should abolish the comment sections, but if the media wants to be taken seriously, they need to put more stock to moderate the comments and, what’s more, follow their own guidelines.
Source: The Nordic Page