Many weekly and small daily newspapers have been hesitant to embrace the Internet for several reasons, but none may be as common as unease about the publication of anonymous comments on articles. Now a variety of factors are leading newspapers around the country to rethink anonymous commenting policies, Richard Perez-Pena of The New York Times reports. The Times and The Washington Post are both in the process of re-evaluating their policies and have already begun requiring readers to register before posting. The registration process provides the newspaper with additional information about the commenter that isn't shown online.
"Anonymity is just the way things are done. It’s an accepted part of the Internet, but there’s no question that people hide behind anonymity to make vile or controversial comments," said Arianna Huffington, a founder of The Huffington Post, which is revising its policy to include a rankings system that allows readers input on the quality of various comments "I feel that this is almost like an education process. As the rules of the road are changing and the Internet is growing up, the trend is away from anonymity." Some industry executives say online anonymity is becoming less important as users become more accustomed to posting their personal opinions attached to their personal identity on social networking sites, Perez-Pena reports.
The controversy surrounding anonymous commenting was thrust into the spotlight recently when The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported that anonymous comments disparaging a local lawyer on one of its stories were left by an account associated with the e-mail address of a judge presiding over some of the lawyers' cases. The judge, who denies posting the comments and whose daughter took responsibility for some of them, is now suing the newspaper for invasion of privacy. Susan Goldberg, The Plain Dealer’s editor, said in a recent interview with her own paper, maybe they should not have investigated the identity of the commenter, but "once we did, I don’t know how you can pretend you don’t know that information." (Read more)
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