Online and uncivil? Patterns and determinants of incivility in newspaper website comments

Journal of Communication

Volumn 64, Issue 4, 2014, Pages 658-679

  Coe, Kevin ^a   Kenski, Kate ^b   Rains, Stephen A ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF UTAH   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84905586698     PISSN: 00219916     EISSN: 14602466     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/jcom.12104     Document Type: Article

References (44)

1. Anderson, A. A., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A., Xenos, M. A., & Ladwig, P. (2013). The "nasty effect": Online incivility and risk perceptions of emerging technologies. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19, 373-387. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12009.
2. Arizona Daily Star. (2013). Business overview. Retrieved from http://azstarnet.com
3. Arnett, R. C., & Arneson, P. (1999). Dialogic civility in a cynical age: Community, hope, and interpersonal relationships. Albany: State University of New York Press.
4. Benson, T. W. (1996). Rhetoric, civility, and community: Political debate on computer bulletin boards. Communication Quarterly, 44, 359-378. doi:10.1080/01463379609370023.
5. Blau, G., & Andersson, L. (2005). Testing a measure of instigated workplace incivility. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78, 595-614. doi:10.1348/096317905X26822.
6. Borah, P. (2012). Does it matter where you read the news story? Interaction of incivility and news frames in the political blogosphere. Communication Research. doi:10.1177/0093650212449353.
7. Brooks, D. J., & Geer, J. G. (2007). Beyond negativity: The effects of incivility on the electorate. American Journal of Political Science, 51, 1-16. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00233.x.
8. Carter, S. L. (1998). Civility: Manners, morals, and the etiquette of democracy. New York, NY: Basic Books.
9. Coe, K., Tewksbury, D., Bond, B. J., Drogos, K. L., Porter, R. W., Yahn, A., & Zhang, Y. (2008). Hostile news: Partisan use and perceptions of cable news programming. Journal of Communication, 58, 201-219. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.00381.x.
10. Culnan, M. J., & Markus, M. L. (1987). Information technologies. In F. M. Jablin, L. L. Putnam, K. H. Roberts, & L. W. Porter (Eds.), Handbook of organizational communication: An interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 420-443). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
11. Dahl, R. (1989). Democracy and its critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
12. Dahlberg, L. (2001). The Internet and democratic discourse. Information, Communication, & Society, 4, 615-633. doi:10.1080/13691180110097030.
13. Downing, J. H. (1989). Computers for political change: PeaceNet and public data access. Journal of Communication, 39, 154-162. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1989.tb01049.x.
14. Forni, P. M. (2002). Choosing civility: The twenty-five rules of considerate conduct. New York, NY: St. Martin's.
15. Fridkin, K. L., & Kenney, P. J. (2008). The dimensions of negative messages. American Politics Research, 36, 694-723. doi:10.1177/1532673X08316448.
16. Gastil, J. (2008). Political communication and deliberation. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
17. Gronke, P., & Cook, T. (2007). Disdaining the media: The American public's changing attitudes toward the news. Political Communication, 24, 259-281. doi:10.1080/10584600701471591.
18. Herbst, S. (2010). Rude democracy: Civility and incivility in American politics. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
19. Herring, S. C. (2010). Web content analysis: Expanding the paradigm. In J. Hunsinger, L. Klastrup, & M. Allen (Eds.), International handbook of internet research (pp. 233-249). New York, NY: Springer.
20. Jamieson, K. H. (1997, March 1). Civility in the house of representatives (APPC Report #10). The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved from http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/civility-in-the-house-of-representatives/
21. Jamieson, K. H. (2011, September 27). Civility in Congress (1935-2011) as reflected in the taking down process (APPC Report No. 2011-1). The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved from http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/Downloads/Civility/Civility_9-27-2011_Final.pdf
22. Kiesler, S., Siegel, J., & McGuire, T. W. (1984). Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39, 1123-1134. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.39.10.1123.
23. Kurtz, J. B. (2012). Civility, American style. Relevant Rhetoric, 3, 1-23.
24. Loveland, M. T., & Popescu, D. (2011). Democracy on the Web. Information, Communication, & Society, 14, 684-703. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2010.521844.
25. Manosevitch, E., & Walker, D. M. (2009). Reader comments to online opinion journalism: A space of public deliberation. Paper presented to the 10th International Symposium on Online Journalism, Austin, TX.
26. Massaro, T. M., & Stryker, R. (2012, April). Freedom of speech, liberal democracy, and emerging evidence on civility and effective democratic engagement. Arizona Legal Studies (Discussion Paper No. 12-12).
27. McMillan, S. J. (2000). The microscope and the moving target: The challenge of applying content analysis to the World Wide Web. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 77, 80-98. doi:10.1177/107769900007700107.
28. Mehta, H. (2013, April 2). National Atheist groups respond to growing incivility in online communities. Retrieved from http://www.patheos.com
29. Mutz, D. C. (2007). Effects of "In-your-face" television discourse on perceptions of a legitimate opposition. American Political Science Review, 101, 621-635. doi:10.1017/S000305540707044X.
30. Mutz, D. C., & Reeves, B. (2005). The new videomalaise: Effects of televised incivility on political trust. American Political Science Review, 99, 1-16. doi:10.1017/S0003055405051452.
31. O'Sullivan, P. B., & Flanagin, A. J. (2003). Reconceptualizing "flaming" and other problematic messages. New Media & Society, 5, 69-94. doi:10.1177/1461444803005001908.
32. Obama, B. (2011, January 12). Remarks at a memorial service for victims of the shootings in Tucson, Arizona. Retrieved from http://www.americanpresidency.org.
33. Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The virtual sphere: The Internet as the public sphere. New Media & Society, 4, 5-23. doi:10.1177/14614440222226244.
34. Papacharissi, Z. (2004). Democracy online: Civility, politeness, and the democratic potential of online political discussion groups. New Media & Society, 6, 259-283. doi:10.1177/1461444804041444.
35. Pornpitakpan, C. (2004). The persuasiveness of source credibility: A critical review of five decades' evidence. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 243-281. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb02547.x.
36. Public Religion Research Institute. (2010, November 5-8). PRRI/RNS religion news survey. Retrieved from www.publicreligion.org
37. Rains, S. A. (2005). Leveling the organizational playing field-virtually: A meta-analysis of experimental research assessing the impact of group support system use on member influence behaviors. Communication Research, 32, 193-234. doi:10.1177/0093650204273763.
38. Ruiz, C., Domingo, D., Micó, J. L., Díaz-Noci, J., Meso, K., & Masip, P. (2011). Public sphere 2.0? The democratic qualities of citizen debates in online newspapers. International Journal of Press/Politics, 16, 463-487. doi:10.1177/1940161211415849.
39. Sapiro, V. (1999). Considering political civility historically: A case study of the United States. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the International Society for Political Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
40. Sears, D. O. (2001). The role of affect in symbolic politics. In J. H. Kuklinski (Ed.), Citizens and politics: Perspectives from political psychology (pp. 14-40). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
41. Sobieraj, S., & Berry, J. M. (2011). From incivility to outrage: Political discourse in blogs, talk radio, and cable news. Political Communication, 28, 19-41. doi:10.1080/10584609.2010.542360.
42. Stromer-Galley, J. (2007). Measuring deliberation's content: A coding scheme. Journal of Public Deliberation, 3, 1-35.
43. Stroud, N. J. (2011). Niche news: The politics of news choice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
44. Uslaner, E. M. (1993). The decline of comity in Congress. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.