Media and online communities in the Western Balkans have been debating comments on online media portals for years. The debates have become especially intense due to the popularity and attendance of media on the Internet, which "live" in a convergent mix with social networks, blogs and other platforms for sharing user-generated content. The potential of comments on online media texts to enable discussion and two-way communication between the media and the audience unfortunately did not live up to expectations, precisely because of the frequent transformation of comments into "battlefields" of hatred and the spread of intolerance.
Responsible media take care of comments on texts using the rules of commenting and moderation, i.e. management of received comments from readers. Each online media, according to its needs, resources and capabilities, should decide which mode of moderation suits it best - whether it will decide to control all comments before publication (pre-moderation) or whether it will delete only inappropriate comments after registration (post-moderation).
It happens that readers' expectations from online comments, the essence of which is to allow their opinion to be heard, are often not met precisely because of the feeling that some kind of control is being exercised over them, because the moderators ultimately decide whose comment will be published. On the other hand, journalists suffer from the pressure of public opinion, and professional standards vary widely. In order to reach a consensus on both sides (readers and media) regarding the publication of comments on news portals, it is necessary to consider several possibilities, because for now there is no single solution. Primarily, a distinction should be made between pre-moderation and post-moderation of readers' comments.
By re-moderating comments, the media become responsible for the content of each reader comment they post, which is extremely problematic considering how many comments the most visited media sites post during the day. Another negative aspect of pre-moderation is the prior censorship of user content, which may be demotivated to participate in the debate. Also, accepting legal responsibility for user content is certainly not a safe path that the media would like to follow. Considering all that, would post-moderation help better communication in the comments?
Post-moderation is based on the provisions of the European Union Directive on Electronic Commerce 2000/31/EC, which is an integral part of the national law of all EU member states, as well as countries that are in the process of accession, such as Montenegro, where their provisions incorporated in the Law on Electronic Commerce. Post-moderation, i.e. publishing all comments immediately after they are posted is an alternative that requires fewer resources and can offer greater opportunities for readers to express themselves. The media can be held responsible only if it has not removed the comments reported by users because they are not in accordance with the commenting rules or the legal framework. Accordingly, it is necessary for the media to develop clear and precise procedures for reporting content that will allow them to quickly and easily remove comments that do not contribute to the debate and that abuse the commenting option.
Although the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, Delfi v. Estonia, dealt a serious blow to post-moderation, it should be borne in mind that this is a specific case and that conclusions should not be made based only on one judgment. The practice of that court in other cases related to internet comments, such as MTE and Index.hu v. Hungary and Pil v. Sweden, indicates that portals cannot be held liable for readers' comments if they acted in accordance with the law, i.e. removed problematic comments upon application.
In order for post-moderation to be more effective and in accordance with the regulations governing the publication of content, it is necessary to consider additional steps. Members of the online community should also be given a chance to participate in the regulation of comments. Procedures should be developed for illegal and inappropriate content to remove content upon notification by interested parties. Accordingly, within the rules of commenting on the site itself, there should be clear guidelines on how and when comments will be removed upon application.
However, regardless of which model of moderation you decide on, you should keep in mind all the obligations that moderation entails. In order to better understand the basic principles of pre-moderation and post-moderation, see the SHARE guide of the Good Practice Foundation and regulatory models for the responsible publication of online comments, as well as the Handbook for adapting the rules to the needs of online media, of the Press Council of Serbia. We hope that these models can serve as a basis for the selection of moderation and the creation of commenting rules, which can be further adjusted and elaborated according to the needs of the media themselves.
The author is the coordinator for online media and freedom of expression, SHARE Foundation
The blog is part of the project, "Respect - To raise ethical standards in the media and citizens' trust in ethical standards", supported by the EU, and implemented by the Media Institute of Montenegro together with the Peace Institute from Ljubljana and the Network for Ethical Journalism from London (EJN)
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