Examining User Comments for Deliberative Democracy: A Corpus-driven Analysis of the Climate Change Debate Online

Abstract

The public perception of climate change is characterized by heterogeneity, even polarization. Deliberative discussion is regarded by some as key to overcoming polarization and engaging various publics with the complex issue of climate change. In this context, online engagement with news stories is seen as a space for a new "deliberative democratic potential" to emerge. This article examines aspects of deliberation in user comment threads in response to articles on climate change taken from the Guardian. "Deliberation" is understood through the concepts "reciprocity", "topicality", and "argumentation". We demonstrate how corpus analysis can be used to examine the ways in which online debates around climate change may create or deny opportunities for multiple voices and deliberation. Results show that whilst some aspects of online discourse discourage alternative viewpoints and demonstrate "incivility", user comments also show potential for engaging in dialog, and for high levels of interaction.

A Tale of Two Stories from “Below the Line”

“…As Table 2 shows, 47 percent of comments were coded as replies to participants, which is in line with previous research (Canter 2013;Collins and Nerlich 2014;Graham 2011;Winkler 2002). Another key question is whether comment fields create a space for reader-journalist debate.…”

“…Exploring the nature of debate is important, not least because Habermas (1989) argued that a core function of journalism was to act as both a platform and facilitator of public debate. The analysis of comment fields found that they were deliberative (RQ1): discussions were typically rational, critical, coherent, reciprocal and civil-a finding that is supported by existing research (Canter 2013;Collins and Nerlich 2014;Graham 2011;Rowe 2015;Ruiz et al 2011;Winkler 2002). While we did not collect evidence on the background and political views of participants, it would appear from the debates that participants hold a wide range of political views and discuss across these-an important aspect of deliberation often missing in online political spaces.…”

Using Web 2.0 and Social Media Technologies to Foster Proenvironmental Action

“…The same content that is "Liked" may also receive negative comments [32], and depending on the extremity and number, create normative support against the espoused attitudes and behaviors. In one study, participants who viewed an online news article on risks related to nanotechnology followed by negative and relatively uncivil comments perceived greater risks and thought the story was more biased than participants who saw the same story followed by benign comments [123].…”

“…Thus, online technologies (i.e., Web 2.0 and social media) have the potential to reach wide swaths of citizenry, and may represent primary (and as of yet under-researched [16]) mediums for encouraging action to protect the environment. In fact, the utility of Web 2.0 and social media is being tested in social science research seeking to build and organize communities (e.g., [31]) and for purposes of climate change communication (e.g., [14,16,20,32]) and environmental education (e.g., [11,23,33]). However, research has yet to establish the "best" technologies and how to maximize their effectiveness.…”

The Transformation of Journalism: From Changing Newsroom Cultures to a New Communicative Orientation?

“…The steady growth of user comments is probably one of the most notable examples in this context -and it illustrates that the idea of audience participation in journalism has changed relatively quickly over the past few years. What we are presently observing is a shift in the understanding of the comment section from being "a space for a new 'deliberative democratic potential' to emerge" (Collins and Nerlich 2015) to a necessary evil or even a threat to deliberation. 1 As a consequence, and also owing to limited resources -and also because of a mixture of a certain professional distance towards their audiences, scepticism or even resistance against audience participation -there are already various examples of newsrooms that have completely shut down the comments sections of their websites.…”