ABSTRACT
The Web 2.0 era has revolutionised readers’ participation and engagement with the news in hitherto unseen ways. While in the past, the participation of readers was limited to radio phone-in programmes and letters-to-the-editor in newspapers, readers’ online comments have become almost ubiquitous, providing one of the most pragmatic and influential attributes of the interactive functionality of the digital era. This chapter seeks to contribute an African perspective on how mainstream journalists are embracing readers’ online comments. It draws its empirical evidence from leading print newsrooms – mainly from Zimbabwe’s dominant state-controlled Zimbabwe Newspapers Group and the small but powerful privately owned Alpha Media Holdings – to examine how journalists are adapting and adjusting to the participatory cultures and UGC associated with online readers’ comments. The chapter explores how the newsrooms are embracing readers’ comments as part of their everyday newsmaking cultures, as well as resulting professional and ethical concerns. It examines the newsrooms’ approaches to managing and ‘gatekeeping’ the comments.
