Comm455/History of Journalism

One of the (great?) things that internet journalism has created is the ability for people to “comment” on the news.

Have you ever been to a CNN.com article and skimmed through the story just to get to the comments? I have. It can be infuriating and funny at the same time.

The “Comment” section has allowed people to become a part of the conversation of current events with the reporters themselves. However, the articles that generally generate the most responses are opinion pieces.

Let’s take a look Ted Koppel’s piece from the The Washington Post this week. His condemnation of TV anchors like Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly led to a total 1,551 comments on the article. The website will not allow any more comments at this point.

Is there a point where the all the comments and opinions become too much? Did internet journalism open a Pandoras Box of bored, angry and annoying people looking for an outlet for their opinions that they cannot close?

Feel free to comment on this!