How two local Rochester news sites handle reader comments

It’s my per­sonal pol­icy to get my news from mul­ti­ple sources. For local Rochester news that means the Demo­c­rat & Chron­i­cle and Chan­nel 13 (the best of the local tele­vi­sion sta­tions on the web). One thing I’ve noticed about both sites is the awful racism and intol­er­ance that plague their reader com­ments. There’s just some­thing about the sup­posed anonymity of the net that brings out the worst (in) peo­ple. If you won­der where the hate­ful extrem­ism of the right comes from, just check the com­ments in any story men­tion­ing non-white peo­ple or for that mat­ter any Rochester city resident.

Each site has taken a dif­fer­ent approach to the mat­ter. Chan­nel 13 has decided to elim­i­nate com­ments alto­gether. This move brought them a lot of hate mail from the usual sources, but at least site vis­i­tors don’t have to read it. Although they say they hope to bring them back some day, I seri­ously doubt that will hap­pen. The vio­lence, racism and hate are just start­ing, we’re nowhere near the end of it.

The Demo­c­rat & Chron­i­cle has taken a far more stealthy, and per­haps dis­hon­est, approach. For instance, in this arti­cle about minor­ity recruit­ing for the Rochester Police Depart­ment, com­ment­ing has been dis­abled entirely. All you can do is “Rec­om­mend”. As of this moment 51 peo­ple have “rec­om­mended” this arti­cle. But it’s unlikely that’s true, and that’s where the dis­hon­esty comes in. If it’s unlikely that 51 peo­ple are rec­om­mend­ing you read this arti­cle, why make it look like that’s the case? If you don’t want to pub­lish hate­ful, racist com­ments that’s one thing, but don’t make them look like some­thing they’re not. Chan­nel 13’s approach may not be ideal, but at least it’s hon­est, why can’t the Demo­c­rat & Chron­i­cle do the same?

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