Online news environments differ from more traditional news environments on a number of dimensions. First, the traditional, standalone news article or TV news broadcast may be a thing of the past. Instead, online news is increasingly contextualized by information coming from other news consumers. This includes comments responding to blog posts, or Facebook "likes" on news articles, as well as user-generated ratings systems for news articles. Second, and related, audience members themselves are actively participating in this changing news environment, with thirty-seven percent of Internet users posting news items or commenting on stories via social media sites (Purcell, Rainie, Mitchell, Rosenstiel, & Olmstead, 2010). Furthermore, twenty-five percent of Internet users report they have posted comments to a news story (Purcell et al., 2010). The Internet brings together social and mass communication sources in a simultaneous and physically proximate fashion, raising questions about how individuals perceive credibility of both sources (Walther et al., 2011). Research has begun to show people rely on social cues, including group-based tools such as user ratings systems, in order to make decisions about credibility of sources on the Internet (Metzger, Flanagin, & Meddes, 2010). People develop connections with other online users that may be stronger than those they would form in face-to-face communication (Walther, 1996). Thus, it is likely that people respond to the social cues surrounding traditional news media in the online environment. In this study, we explore the influence of audience comments on how people form trust and perceptions of bias in various media sources. We examine these effects in the context of uncivil audience comments, thought to be particularly prevalent in online discussion due to the anonymity the Internet provides. Alongside the increasingly intersecting nature of mass communication and social communication sources in online media, research has examined cohort effects for online media use. Research shows that younger cohorts are turning primarily to online media for their news. Two-thirds of Internet users are under the age of 50, and those under 30 are most likely to use news portals or Facebook for news (Purcell et al., 2010). Those under the age of 44 are more likely to turn to online media or multiple media platforms than traditional news outlets for information and news about science, the topic of this study (Anderson, Brossard, & Scheufele, 2010). Researchers have been concerned with how younger cohorts trust and use digital media sources because those cohorts have grown up with more regular exposure to digital media sources (e.g., Flanagin & Metzger, 2008). Thus, online discussions and their potentially uncivil nature may impact younger people's perceptions of media credibility differently. Therefore, a secondary focus of our study is to examine age as a key explanatory variable in this process due to the fact that younger populations may be more accustomed to online information environments. Social Context Of Online News Online audiences are increasingly turning toward a multiplicity of sources for their news and information needs. However, the online context adds something to news media sources not present in traditional offline sources. It adds the context of perspectives of other media consumers who have read the same article. The question of how this social context of online news plays a role in how people perceive various media sources remains to be fully explored. Research has begun to examine how the social context influences perceptions of media. For instance, Walther and his colleagues (2010) found that people evaluated public service announcement on YouTube more positively when they were accompanied by positive user comments. Relatedly, researchers have found "proximal cues" that often appear in automated news aggregators, such as the number of related articles written by other news organizations or the name of the primary source that published the headline and the lead, influence how users perceive a news item (Sundar, Knoblock-Westerwick, & Hastall, 2007). Thus, the online context adds a number of cues to the online environment that may affect how people perceive media sources. In this study, we examine how one particular element of the social context of online news, the audience comments connected to a newspaper blog post, affects not only perceptions of the item to which it is connected, but also media sources more broadly. People may identify with other anonymous individuals in the online setting, which indicates exposure to audience comments by others may play a role in shaping their perceptions of media sources. Various models in the literature on computer-mediated communication are based on the idea that the absence of visual cues can lead to stronger connections among online users than connections that would form in face-to-face discussions. The social identification model of deindividuation (SIDE) assumes that people access a certain identity within their multiple layers of identity depending on which is most salient (Lea & Spears, 1992; Spears & Lea, 1994). Thus, in the online context, identity cues are even stronger because people cannot access visual cues on which they may typically rely. Furthermore, Walther's (1996) hyperpersonal communication model suggests that online users can form connections with other users in ways that are stronger than face-to-face communication. The approach of these models also implies that incivility embedded in discussions among other people on the Internet will resonate with media users. Therefore, uncivil conversations, which are prolific in online comments, may influence how people perceive that media source. Using an experimental design with a representative sample of the American population, we find that interpretations of the exact same online news item can differ significantly, depending on the nature of comments posted by readers. Specifically, exposure to uncivil discussion increases perceptions of blog post bias and increases trust in news media and online sources for information on science. Implications for news organizations are discussed.

中文翻译：

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有毒的谈话：在线无礼如何破坏媒体的看法

在线新闻环境在许多方面不同于更传统的新闻环境。首先，传统的、独立的新闻文章或电视新闻广播可能已成为过去。相反，在线新闻越来越多地被来自其他新闻消费者的信息所关联。这包括对博客帖子的评论，或 Facebook 对新闻文章的“喜欢”，以及用户生成的新闻文章评级系统。其次，与此相关的是，受众成员本身正在积极参与这个不断变化的新闻环境，37% 的互联网用户通过社交媒体网站发布新闻或评论故事（Purcell、Rainie、Mitchell、Rosenstiel 和 Olmstead，2010 年） . 此外，25% 的互联网用户表示他们曾对新闻报道发表评论（Purcell 等人，2010）。互联网以同时且物理上接近的方式将社会和大众传播来源汇集在一起​​，引发了关于个人如何看待这两个来源的可信度的问题（Walther 等，2011）。研究已经开始表明，人们依赖社会线索，包括基于群体的工具，如用户评级系统，来决定互联网上来源的可信度（Metzger、Flanagin 和 Meddes，2010 年）。人们与其他在线用户建立的联系可能比他们在面对面交流中形成的联系更强大（Walther，1996）。因此，人们很可能会对在线环境中围绕传统新闻媒体的社会线索做出反应。在这项研究中，我们探讨了受众评论对人们如何在各种媒体来源中形成信任和偏见感知的影响。我们在不文明的观众评论的背景下检查这些影响，由于互联网提供的匿名性，这些评论被认为在在线讨论中尤为普遍。除了在线媒体中大众传播和社会传播来源日益交叉的性质外，研究还研究了在线媒体使用的队列效应。研究表明，年轻群体主要转向在线媒体获取新闻。三分之二的互联网用户年龄在 50 岁以下，30 岁以下的用户最有可能使用新闻门户网站或 Facebook 获取新闻（Purcell 等，2010）。与传统新闻媒体相比，44 岁以下的人更有可能转向在线媒体或多媒体平台获取有关科学的信息和新闻，这是本研究的主题 (Anderson, Brossard, & Scheufele, 2010)。研究人员一直关注年轻群体如何信任和使用数字媒体资源，因为这些群体长大后更经常接触数字媒体资源（例如，Flanagin & Metzger，2008）。因此，在线讨论及其潜在的不文明性质可能会以不同的方式影响年轻人对媒体可信度的看法。因此，我们研究的第二个重点是将年龄作为这一过程中的一个关键解释变量，因为年轻人可能更习惯于在线信息环境。在线新闻的社会背景 在线受众越来越多地转向多样化的新闻和信息需求来源。然而，在线上下文为传统离线资源中不存在的新闻媒体资源增加了一些东西。它增加了阅读同一文章的其他媒体消费者的观点背景。在线新闻的这种社会背景如何在人们如何看待各种媒体来源中发挥作用的问题仍有待充分探索。研究已经开始研究社会环境如何影响对媒体的看法。例如，Walther 和他的同事 (2010) 发现，当人们对 YouTube 上的公共服务公告有积极的用户评论时，他们会更积极地评价。相关地，研究人员发现，经常出现在自动新闻聚合器中的“近端线索”，例如其他新闻机构撰写的相关文章的数量或发布标题和线索的主要来源的名称，会影响用户对新闻的看法项（Sundar、Knoblock-Westerwick 和 Hastall，2007 年）。因此，在线上下文向在线环境添加了许多可能影响人们如何看待媒体资源的线索。在这项研究中，我们研究了在线新闻社会背景的一个特定元素，即与报纸博客文章相关的受众评论，不仅影响对其相关项目的看法，而且更广泛地影响媒体来源。人们可能会在网络环境中与其他匿名个体产生认同，这表明暴露于其他人的观众评论可能会影响他们对媒体来源的看法。以计算机为媒介的交流文献中的各种模型都基于这样一种观点，即与面对面讨论中形成的联系相比，缺少视觉线索可以导致在线用户之间的联系更强。去个性化的社会认同模型 (SIDE) 假设人们在其多层身份中访问某个身份，这取决于哪个身份最显着（Lea & Spears, 1992; Spears & Lea, 1994）。因此，在在线环境中，身份线索甚至更强，因为人们无法访问他们通常可能依赖的视觉线索。此外，Walther (1996) 的超个人交流模型表明，在线用户可以以比面对面交流更强的方式与其他用户建立联系。这些模型的方法还意味着互联网上其他人之间的讨论中嵌入的不文明行为将引起媒体用户的共鸣。因此，在线评论中大量出现的不文明对话可能会影响人们对该媒体来源的看法。使用具有美国人口代表性样本的实验设计，我们发现对完全相同的在线新闻项目的解释可能会有显着差异，具体取决于读者发表评论的性质。具体来说，接触不文明的讨论会增加对博客文章偏见的看法，并增加对新闻媒体和在线科学信息来源的信任。讨论了对新闻机构的影响。