Bloggers' comments to news stories need to be edited because they degrade legitimate newspapers. The link below is to a story about a Senior All Night Party in Marshfield, MA. It is titled: Breath tests, pat-downs at Marshfield’s Grad Nite party. The story is pretty straightforward, it is about breathalyzing seniors this year for the first time at their graduation party. The previous year a drunken student was arrested and twelve others had to be taken home by parents. The planners struggled with whether to breathalze fearing attendance would be affected. Graduation night is one of two high risk nights for drinking and driving incidents by teens (the other is Prom night). The All-Night party is an important event that keeps grads safe.
While most of the comments to the story are legitimate and offer thoughtful opinions both pro and con regarding whether to breathalyze, several comments are inappropriate: One wrote, "would like to volunteer for pat dons on the girl students." Another said, "After hours at my place! keg stands and funnels." A third comment mentions someone by name, "What this school needs is Dan Tarpey from Arch Bishop Williams."
The Patriot Ledger is a legitimate daily newspaper that has been around for over 100 years, how can they allow these comments to stay posted on their site? The story and comments are over two years old! I commend their "report abuse" flag which sends a message to an editor to remove the comments, but why allow the comments at all? If they forced those responding to attach a name and address to their emarks, the rude comments would surely disappear. Why should the Internet be an excuse for allowing this? It is like allowing anonymous graffiti all over your home.
Like the story that casts suspicion on Monique Fulgham's mother and grandmother, these comments seem destined to hang around forever.
1 comment:
The greatest thing about a Democracy - even one as sputtering and battered as the US's - is that stupidity is virtually unfettered. If it weren't, newspapers would have gone out of business years ago.
If you think the PL is bad, try the Globe's comments - vile.
But, don't you think that the line between censorship and free speech is one that should never be drawn short? So, with comments a paper is either all the way in or all the way out.
Anyway, who are you going to censor... me, who thinks that on his best day Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat, lying, closet-case homosexual... tea partyers for their gross self absorption, although it is uproariously funny when they refer to themselves as teabaggers... or people who think George W Bush is a true American patriot and that anyone who thinks he's a world-class criminal should be locked up.
Once you get the eraser out it's hard as hell to stop using it.
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