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REVIEW article

Front. Commun.
Sec. Media Governance and the Public Sphere
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1447457

Understanding News-Related User Comments and Their Effects: A Systematic Review

Provisionally accepted
Emily Kubin Emily Kubin 1Pascal Merz Pascal Merz 1Mariam Wahba Mariam Wahba 2Cate Davis Cate Davis 2Kurt Gray Kurt Gray 2Christian von Sikorski Christian von Sikorski 1*
  • 1 Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
  • 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    There has been growing interest in research on news-related user comments. Here we conduct the first systematic review of this literature¾quantitatively and qualitatively (248 studies)¾that covers the entire communication process (content analyses, surveys, experiments).Results indicate a focus on online news articles (vs videos) and little consideration for major social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok). Research often assess incivility in comments but offers conflicting conclusions on the actual level of incivility in comment threads-and seldom considers how to effectively combat any incivility. We propose four priorities for future work: more comparative and longitudinal approaches; exploring social media and video content; examining platform design, content moderation and artificial intelligence; and implementing measures to reduce incivility and protect the integrity of journalism.

    Keywords: User comments, Digital news, Content Analysis, Media Effects, uncivil user comments hat gelöscht: 11, 699

    Received: 11 Jun 2024; Accepted: 01 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kubin, Merz, Wahba, Davis, Gray and von Sikorski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Christian von Sikorski, Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.