Facebook discussions of journalistic news: Investigating article objectivity, topic, and media brand as influencing factors

Lara Brückner; Wolfgang Schweiger

doi:10.5771/2192-4007-2017-4-365

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- I–II Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis I–II
- 315–332 EDITORIAL 315–332
  - Online user comments across news and other content formats: Multidisciplinary perspectives, new directions Marc Ziegele, Nina Springer, Pablo Jost, Scott Wright Marc Ziegele, Nina Springer, Pablo Jost, Scott Wright
- 333–443 FULL PAPER 333–443
  - 333–364 Making sense of user comments: Identifying journalists’ requirements for a comment analysis framework Wiebke Loosen, Marlo Häring, Zijad Kurtanović, Lisa Merten, Julius Reimer, Lies van Roessel, Walid Maalej Wiebke Loosen, Marlo Häring, Zijad Kurtanović, Lisa Merten, Julius Reimer, Lies van Roessel, Walid Maalej 333–364
  - 365–394 Facebook discussions of journalistic news: Investigating article objectivity, topic, and media brand as influencing factors Lara Brückner, Wolfgang Schweiger Lara Brückner, Wolfgang Schweiger 365–394
  - 395–419 Replying, disliking, flagging: How users engage with uncivil and impolite comments on news sites Anja Kalch, Teresa K. Naab Anja Kalch, Teresa K. Naab 395–419
  - 420–443 Effects of exemplars and base-rate information on online physician rating sites Anne Reinhardt, Winja Weber, Constanze Rossmann Anne Reinhardt, Winja Weber, Constanze Rossmann 420–443
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SCM Studies in Communication and Media , page 365 - 394

Facebook discussions of journalistic news: Investigating article objectivity, topic, and media brand as influencing factors

Autoren

Lara Brückner Wolfgang Schweiger

DOI
- doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2017-4-365
- ISSN online: 2192-4007
Abstract

User discussions of journalistic online news are a sensitive issue. First, most users do not seem to be motivated to comment on articles. Second, as far as discussions emerge, they seldom aim to create mutual understanding. Since this threatens the idea of online deliberation and might negatively affect the perceived brand images of news sites, factors influencing the quantity and quality of user comments should be investigated in more detail. In this paper, we analyze 120 articles from four German news outlets (taz.de, SZ.de, FOCUS Online, FAZ.net) and the related Facebook posts. Additionally, we analyze Facebook discussions emerging below the article posts. We comparatively assess the impact of the article’s objectivity, topic, and the media brand on the number of user comments and deliberative discussion quality. The media brand had a significant impact on the number of user comments and most criteria of comment and discussion quality. Article objectivity had a small but significant impact on the level of incivility. We propose to investigate the factor in other communication contexts in future studies.
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