NZZ.ch removes comment function under online articles
In a few days, readers will no longer be able to comment freely on the articles published on the Neue Zürcher Zeitung website - the comment function will be switched off for most texts. The editorial team, on the other hand, wants to enable a daily discussion on the content of three selected texts.
It's not a new phenomenon: Many editorial offices - not only in Switzerland - have a hard time dealing with the online comments of their readers: The tone and content of a reaction quickly typed out in anonymity often crosses a pain threshold.
The NZZ has also noticed that the mood in its online comments has become more hateful. "Where readers used to discuss controversial issues with each other, they are increasingly calling each other names," the editorial team wrote on its own media page on Saturday.
Three daily discussion forums
It is therefore announcing a "redesign of online comments" for next Wednesday. The comment function will be switched off for practically all articles. Readers will only be able to actively participate in discussions on three texts a day. The NZZ wants to initiate, moderate and accompany these three daily discussions. With a specific question, the editorial team wants to give the debate a possible direction. This is in the hope of finding a way back to a constructive discussion culture: "We are not inviting debates about the bare facts, but about what they mean.
Furthermore, the NZZ intends to have an editor exchange views with readers under his or her article every week. The newspaper already successfully conducted such online debates last year, for example with its traffic expert who spoke out against a new Gotthard tube. Despite the extensive shutdown of the comment function, NZZ.ch will continue to offer a direct feedback function. Readers can continue to report any errors and tips to the editorial team online.
Readers react differently
These plans have been received differently by readers, as a look at the - still active - online comments column shows. Some regret that the NZZ is now also going down on its knees in the face of the "segregation of the angry citizens" and only wants to allow "supervised commenting". Others criticize that the restriction to moderated discussions is a "step towards more guided democracy". Free discussion would thus unfortunately be restricted.
Others welcome the "courageous step. One reader, for example, thinks it is right that the NZZ expects and demands fair, constructive debates and discussions from its readers. But many are also torn: He has also noticed hate comments and mutual harassment, writes one reader, for example. He can therefore understand the NZZ's planned restrictions, "but I still regret them. (SDA)
