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ABSTRACT
This study investigates when and why news website visitors write civil or uncivil comments in response to news articles or related user comments. In an experiment, we manipulated the news value of news articles and the presence of ‘deliberative’ or ‘detrimental’ elements of comments to compare their impact on participants’ involvement, willingness to comment, and the comments they posted. News factors and comment characteristics increased participants’ willingness to comment via cognitive and affective involvement. Cognitive involvement made it less likely and affective involvement more likely that participants wrote uncivil comments. Additionally, involvement with previous comments increased participants’ willingness to comment on articles and vice versa. Results imply that news articles and comments dynamically shape the discussion value of online news.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Marc Ziegele is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Communication at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany [email: [email protected]].
Dr Mathias Weber is a postdoctoral researcher at the same department [email: [email protected]].
Oliver Quiring is a full professor at the same department [email: [email protected]].
Timo Breiner was a research assistant at the same department [email: [email protected]].
Notes
* Declaration: all authors have agreed to the submission and the article is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.