Should comments be part of the news?
Along with several other bloggers, I saw a post at Silicon Alley Insider the other day about the New York Times highlighting reader comments on its front page — in this case, underneath a photo of Al Gore after he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Henry Blodget says the Times should be congratulated for this experiment in social media, while David Spector says that it’s a terrible idea and that the newspaper is “devaluing” itself by doing so.
I thought at first that Henry might have stumbled across either an experiment that went live by mistake, or a glitch in the Times’ comment-posting process, but in a comment on the Silicon Alley post, Heather Green from BusinessWeek says that she noticed the Times featured reader comments on the front page back in August as well, when the bridge collapsed in Minnesota.
What’s interesting to me is how opinion is divided on whether this is a good idea or not. David Spector and some of the commenters on his post and others argue that comments belong on story pages but not on the front page, and that the New York Times should just be providing the facts. Others seem to think the facts are probably well known by the time the NYT gets to a story, and so reader comments are a valid part of the news.
I’m inclined to go with that latter view. If it’s a big story that has already been reported, like Al Gore or the bridge collapse, I think a few carefully selected reader comments would be a useful addition to the story. Why else do reporters interview people for their thoughts and then quote them in news stories? Comments are just a way of letting people who don’t happen to get interviewed have their say.
Related posts:
(On Oct 13th, 2007 at 10:27 am)
Mathew, that’s a terrific way of comparing comments to interviews. I agree, carefully selected comments add to the article just like spices to a main dish. It enhances the flavor!
Vern
(On Oct 13th, 2007 at 2:18 pm)
Story comments on newspaper sites are an adventure, but generally in a good way. We launched this feature about a month ago on all stories on the Idaho Statesman website and the response has been overwhelming. It’s definitely an adjustment for some reporters who aren’t used to such public criticism, but the comments for the most part have been balanced.
Our editorial page editor has printed selected comments in the opinion section of the dead tree edition, but we have not yet featured any comments on the home page of our site. I wouldn’t rule it out, though.
(On Oct 13th, 2007 at 2:26 pm)
Thanks for the comment, Patrick. We launched comments last year on all news stories at my newspaper (globeandmail.com) and I would say our experience has been pretty similar.