Deliberating Issues or Discharging Feelings? A Closer Look at “Below-the-Line” Reader Comments on the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands Dispute

Abstract

The study addresses a concern over the quality of online news reader comments. Specifically, it examines how online reader comments contribute to deliberation from cognitive and interactive perspectives. The results of content analyzing, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the comments from an online publication The Diplomat suggest that comments were mostly deliberative and serious, and they were more neutrally oriented than degrading in terms of feelings. There was some association between reasonings and feelings but not very strong. The study concludes that comment fields can be a good platform for participatory journalism and enrich deliberation on issues.

Keywords

• comment fields
• reader comments
• the diaoyu/senkaku islands dispute
• user generated content (ugc)
• analytic process
• social process
• public deliberation