A new study has suggested that online readers' comments can provide valuable feedback to news sites.
Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Journalism have found 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 their consumers.
Timothy Vos, an associate professor of journalism studies at MU, 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 said, adding that although most journalists were trained and brought up valuing these ideals, they found that many readers have an additional list of traits that they value in their news reporting.
Vos noted that although news organizations don't necessarily need to readjust what ideals they find important, they should at least understand what their readers value, not only to serve them better, but also to maintain viability.
Vos also found that readers often hold journalism outlets to basic social standards that are better applied to individuals rather than corporate entities. He found multiple occurrences of such adjectives as sanctimonious, self-absorbed, judgmental, inhumane, and lazy to describe entire news outlets.
Vos says leaders of news outlets should be aware of how their organizations are being judged by readers.
This study is published in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism.
