Written by Beth A. Maynard
Submitted by Georgiana Vines
Knoxville, Tenn. -- For more than two years, Knoxville has heard graphic details of the carjacking, rape and brutal murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newman. On Dec. 1, the third of four defendants went on trial and once again hundreds people have been following the stories, photos, Tweets and online comments over the course of the proceedings. Through the trials, a captivated citizenry has found a voice for their opinions about every step of the judicial process through posting comments on websites.
When comments about the first murder trial took a racial and defamatory tone, the Knoxville News-Sentinel began to monitor the posts more closely. This is a situation that news organizations across the country face. Each must determine what constraints they are willing to place on comments. There is a delicate balance to strike between protecting the community and allowing freedom of speech.
Of course, there is no easy answer as each organization operates differently depending upon the audience and community standards and values. However, all media outlets that permit comments must develop a set of guidelines to maintain integrity of outlet and the user.
To start, self-policing may be the easiest and least bias way to manage online content. During a recent Webinar for Poynter's News University, Jack Lail, news director of innovation for the Knoxville News Sentinel, said that involving users to moderate the online discussions helps keep posters in line.
Lail said that the paper decided to allow users to help manage the conversation so there is a level of accountability amongst the users.
"We need users who are commenting as well as those who aren't to help us keep the conversation healthy," Lail said.
To promote this productive environment, the News Sentinel provides a mechanism for other users to recommend that a comment be removed or a user to even be banned because of continued defamatory comments.
Lail also said that there are times when users will correct misinformation posted by others, thereby self managing the comments. Giving time for this to take place allows for the users to feel that the newspaper staff isn't meddling.
At the same time though, the paper established a strategic understanding with its users so both sides know what to expect. Last May, the News Sentinel held a forum with community leaders and bloggers to open the conversation about how to best manage comments.
To begin to put some fences around comments, the News Sentinel uses technology like profanity filters. Lail said most editors are assigned to monitor comments and reporters utilize RSS feeds to keep watch on the comments regarding stories they wrote.
"Everyone in the newsroom is a multimedia journalist now," Lail said. "Today, instead of writing obituaries, new journalists may be given the task of monitoring online comments and responding to posters' questions."
Training is a major part of making sure that the editors and reporters know how to monitor and respond to comments.
"Comment management has fallen to newsrooms," Lail said. "And, we're still learning how best to do that."
As the more readers find an outlet for expresses their views, it will continue to change the make up of newsrooms in markets across the country.
In Chattanooga, the Times Free Press sees the comments as part of the community discussion and an extension of the newspaper's brand. Tom Griscom, executive editor and publisher, said managing online comments is more about protecting the organization and the organization's brand.
"When people visit our site, they have certain expectations for the quality of information on the site," said Griscom. "We monitor comments to ensure that the community expectations are met while allowing for dissenting opinions."
How does that management happen? Different organizations take very different stances on how best to allow free comment, but protect the community and media company.
Some newspapers have decided to only open particular articles for comment while closing other articles that cover more controversial topics such as sexual orientation, religion or crime. However, other papers, such as the News Sentinel open all articles for comment regardless of the topic.
"We simply go by the First Amendment and allow free speech as long as it does not contain profanity, racism or other derogatory remarks," Lail said.
Griscom sees it a little differently and is looking for a way to allow for the comments, but have some level of accountability to avoid the "trolls," more commonly knows as the trouble makers, who stir up controversy.
"We have considered setting up a separate site just for comments," Griscom said. "The bloggers will criticize us, but we have certain standards."
From the blogger's perspective, the community connection can enhance a story and promote online conversations that connect individuals.
Randy Neal, who began blogging in 2002 and operates the blogs Knoxviews.com and Tennviews.com, said he started his blogs when he saw a need for an alternate perspective because of what he perceived as newspaper bias.
Neal has established himself as a respected blogger who attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention with full media credentials.
He states there are characteristics of blogs such as transparency, currency, permanency and community that newspapers adopted when online comments started.
Now newspapers have their own specialized blogs that provide a way to cover stories that do not necessitate a reporter or space in the print edition.
He sees that users and media organizations can work together to improve delivery of information.
"There are times when a story can be corrected or improved by bloggers," Neal said.
He thinks the relationship makes both the traditional journalist and the citizen journalist better. However, he agrees that the news organizations must have standards
"I agree that a newspaper should protect its brand, but there is no good answer on how to do that right now," Neal said. "Strategies for how to manage online comments will continue to evolve as the technology and forum change."
For now, news organizations like the Knoxville News Sentinel and Chattanooga Free Press will have to find their way through the process. They are making progress, but the reality is that they are attempting to manage a people, the majority of whom have no journalism training or reason to adhere to a code of ethics.
"Some of the comments we remove are scary," Lail said. "It really makes you wonder how far we've really come."
As the Knoxville community made its way through the third of four trials for the Christian - Newsome trial, the management of comments will rest in the News Sentinel newsroom and will surely bring with it new perspectives and decisions to be made.
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