Participation and deliberation: a case study of readers’ comments to news stories on the Brazilian presidential campaign

• Main Author: Marisa Torres da Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade (CECS) 2013-11-01
• Series: Comunicação e Sociedade
• Subjects: Participation; Internet; deliberation; readers’ comments
• Online Access: https://revistacomsoc.pt/article/view/978

The Internet has created new “dialogical spaces” (Oblak, 2005) where issues of common concern can be discussed, serving to democratize the public sphere. As a potential deliberative section and a civic forum, readers’ comments in newspapers’ websites constitute a locus for public debate and ideas exchange provided by the mainstream media. As a case study, this article intends to assess the quality of audience participation in online news sites, by analysing the readers’ comments in the news about the Brazilian presidential campaign (September-November 2010) in the online versions of two Portuguese newspapers.