Online comments: The nature of comments on health journalism. (March 2019) - Lee, Na Yeon
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine whether and to what extent online comments posted to health news provide a place for constructive feedback to journalists as well as positive information to other readers. To that end, this study examined the deliberative characteristics of online health news comments by conducting a content analysis of 652 comments posted to 87 articles from three main news organizations. Findings show that more than 84 percent of reader comments included opinions that were positive, and about 20 percent included facts and personal experiences. The results suggest that readers' online comments to online health news may encourage deliberative discourse in terms of offering journalists instant feedback for a better understanding of readers' perspectives and providing constructive information to other readers. Highlights: The nature of 652 comments posted to 87 online health articles was examined. The most frequent among nine deliberative discourse nature of online comments was found to be offering opinions, which were more positive than negative. Unlike general comment discourse in which readers frequently express incivility and negativity, online comments on health news were likely to be civil. Findings of this study suggest that online comments to health news can offer journalists constructive feedback as well as positive information to other readers.