Abstract
This chapter analyzes 3508 user-generated news site comments to answer one of the over-arching questions of this book: Can incivility and deliberation co-exist in news site comment streams? Findings show that aspects of public deliberation, such as using evidence to support one’s point or asking legitimate questions, were present in 25.9% of comments. In contrast, uncivil attributes—profanity, name-calling, and hate speech—were present in 17.8% of comments. Results suggest strongly that incivility and deliberation can overlap in comments streams, particularly when the incivility is less virulent. Overall, results point to cautious optimism for the potential for deliberative debate in comment streams.
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Chen, G.M. (2017). Analyzing Comments in the News. In: Online Incivility and Public Debate. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56273-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56273-5_5
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