Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
2014
Thesis Director
Richard G. Jones, Jr.
Abstract
In 2004, many newspapers in the U.S. allowed public commenting on news articles posted to their websites, however since then, many U.S. news websites have removed public comment boards, ceased archiving public comments, or turned to moderators to edit or delete hateful or overly aggressive comments (Hughey and Daniels, 2013). Yahoo!, however, continues to utilize comment boards on Yahoo! News reports, in which incivility continues to run rampant. Utilizing critical discourse analysis, this study addresses incivility and "othering" in Yahoo! News article comment sections from news reporting on LGBTQ-related stories. From a sample of 1000 Yahoo! News comments using open coding, several themes are clear in five news reports from this year. Human rights, perversion, and gender are each themes in comments, many of which perpetuate homophobia and heteronormativity, and promote incivility. I conclude Yahoo! News comments are ultimately ineffective and do not support civil, thoughtful discussion.
Recommended Citation
Vajjala, Emily, ""They Want All of Your Kids to be Gay and Oppose God": Incivility and Othering in Yahoo! News Comments" (2014). Masters Theses. 1272.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/1272
