Seeing red: Reading uncivil news comments guided by personality characteristics

Whether on a news or a social networking site, comments following news stories are often beset with incivility. Assailed as diminishing constructive dialogue in a digital public sphere, uncivil comments nevertheless require deeper scrutiny to better understand their pervasiveness and, among some, po...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Newspaper research journal 2022-06, Vol.43 (2), p.196-216
Main Authors: Santana, Arthur D., Hopp, Toby
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Whether on a news or a social networking site, comments following news stories are often beset with incivility. Assailed as diminishing constructive dialogue in a digital public sphere, uncivil comments nevertheless require deeper scrutiny to better understand their pervasiveness and, among some, popularity. This article uses a Uses and Gratifications framework to understand why certain people are more drawn to uncivil comments than civil ones. Using eye-tracking technology, this research compares the attention a reader gives to uncivil comments and compares it against certain personality characteristics. Findings suggest that certain readers spend more time reading uncivil comments than civil ones.
ISSN:0739-5329
2376-4791
DOI:10.1177/07395329221094662