Portland TV station website shuts down reader comments

The website for Portland television station KOIN-TV turned off its comment boards this week, saying “it’s time to be honest about what comment boards have morphed into over the years.”

Tim Steele, digital managing editor for KOIN.com, announced the change in a website post Wednesday.

“When the Internet was new, the opportunity for two-way interaction and ‘real time’ conversation was exciting, vibrant, revolutionary. But the Internet really isn’t new anymore, and there are other, better ways for interaction between author and reader,” Steele wrote.

“For every great, insightful comment or news tip I’ve seen over the past decade posted to the bottom of a story, I’ve dealt with 50 times more comments that add no value. Pseudonymous commenters seemingly have limitless time to post inanities, vitriol, sexually explicit, mindless, vulgar and hurtful notes about people and things of which they have only cursory knowledge,” he said.

Steele said KOIN.com, like other sites, uses filters to monitor comments posted on its site, but he said it hasn’t been enough. “In today’s world,” he said, his company lacks the staff or time to adequately monitor every comment on every story.

Steele stressed that his company still wants to hear readers’ thoughts, opinions or comments through comments on KOIN’s Facebook page, through email or over the phone.

“But as the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote when they disabled their comment boards, he added, ‘Nowhere does the First Amendment require the media to provide a platform for your speech.'”