The Philadelphia Inquirer says that as of Feb. 1, it was removing comments from most of Inquirer.com. Comments will still be available on sports stories and Inquirer Live events, the paper says. The paper says there will be other ways for people to engage with its journalists, including its letters section, social media channels and other features, as well as new capabilities the paper is developing.
The paper says commenting has been hijacked by a “small group of trolls who traffic in racism, misogyny, and homophobia.”
In addressing why it didn’t just invest in more moderation, the paper says that “experience has shown that anything short of 24-hour vigilance on all stories is insufficient. The dedicated bad actors in our commenting community are adept at changing their identities. Many have been banned over and over again, only to reappear with a new username later the same day.”
The paper points out that a number of news outlets have made the decision to drop or restrict comments, including NPR, The Atlantic and NJ.com.
In other Inquirer-related news, Developer J. Brian O’Neill has purchased The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Montgomery County printing plant from the paper, the paper said.
O’Neill paid $37 million for the Schuylkill Printing Plant at 800 River Rd. in Upper Merion Township, Publisher Lisa Hughes said in an email to employees.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment