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Listener Feedback on "One-sided" News, NPR Dropping Web Comments

Here’s an email from listener Tim,  “I have listen(ed) to this station for the last four or five years and it seems to me that you guys get more and more one-sided all the time.  Try at least to say something good about the other side once in a blue moon.  We are all Americans.  We, Republicans are not your enemies.”

This past week, National Public Radio announced it is turning off the “comments” area that has accompanied online versions of news stories.  In announcing this change, network officials said, “"We've reached the point where we've realized that there are other, better ways to achieve the same kind of community discussion around the issues we raise in our journalism."

NPR says more than 5 million people each month engage with NPR on Twitter, compared to just a fraction of that number in the NPR.org comments.

We had a number of comments in reaction on the WEKU Facebook page.

Leanna wrote, “I rarely get on their website because I listen to WEKU the biggest part of the day.”

Tina says, “Comments on news articles are an excuse to be mean to each other.”

Mark commented, “I first thought this was a bad idea, but the more I think about it I must sadly agree.”

And Erika writes, “Judging by most of the comments I read on any web site, I would agree. I never knew that most people were nothing but hateful little trolls until Al Gore invented the World Wide Web.”

We’re always interested in your feedback.  Write to us at: WEKU@eku.edu, post on Facebook or send a tweet @889weku or leave a voice message at 859-622-1657.

Then tune in for Listener Feedback again next Monday morning at 6:49 or 8:49 or at 5:33 in the afternoon during All Things Considered on 88-9 WEKU.

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