Media: Will GateHouse shut down comments at the PJS?
That’s what happening at three GateHouse newspapers, according to Universal Hub. David Harris of the Cambridge Chronicle told readers on Wicked Local that:
If you’re keeping score, we have been shutting down comments for all stories that involve crime, race, religion and other sensitive areas that could make one ignorant person go a little haywire. But these stories only involve a little piece of potentially inflammatory stories. In the meantime and until we find a solution, you can still comment on our blog.
Hat tip to Media Nation, which opines that eventually, online news orgs will have to require commenters to use their own names:
Busy editors and reporters don’t have time to monitor every anonymous comment as it comes in. This isn’t about technology; it’s about common sense. Letters to the editor are rarely published without the writer’s name attached. If anything, online comments, which are posted automatically and without editing, ought to be held to a higher standard.
It would be an understatement to say that the Peoria Journal Star has a problem with racist comments, and with comments that are nothing more than attempts to allege facts not in evidence. Such comments soon disappear from the Website, but not after they’ve been read by hundreds of people.
I’m wondering of the PJS will eventually decide the extra work and worry isn’t worth it.
As I’ve said elsewhere, all that is needed is to require commenters to register with the site, using an email address that’s real and verifiable. This alone scares away the racists, the haters and those who troll for the amusement of it. I still allow commenters to be anonymous to the general public, provided their stick to one online username.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Cripes, when I first glanced at your headline, I thought it said, “Will GateHouse shut down the PJS?”