Because online comments can veer into political debates or other topics, news organizations don’t tend to consider them important.
Now, researchers find that editors and owners of news organizations may want to pay more attention to what their readers are saying about their news stories in order to better serve them.
Timothy Vos, an associate professor of journalism studies at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, says that readers value different journalistic traits as well as hold other expectations for journalists.
“Traditional journalistic values include traits such as objectivity, truthfulness, and accuracy,” Vos says. “Although most journalists were trained and brought up valuing these ideals, we found that many readers have an additional list of traits that they value in their news reporting.
