Does anybody have an idea what CBC.ca's policy is for closing stories to comments?
I've noticed that comments to some "controversial" stories are left open (gay rights, aboriginal issues), while others (sexual assault) are closed.
This is beginning to bug me, because it looks like the CBC is responding to the relative power of civil society groups (feminism is largely entrenched, but queers and natives still have to fight regressive forces).
Any ideas?
Make a list and keep it up over time. See if you can observe a pattern.
Once you've got the evidence, blow them out of the water.
I'm thinking that probably stories that have the potential for lots of libelous comments (e.g. stories about individuals being accused of crimes) are more likely to be closed to comments than ones that are about broader issues of oppression. Accusations against individuals is libel. Racist/sexist/homophobic/anti-FN comments not directed at a particular individual probably won't leave them open to a libel claim, so it's not that important to them to watch closely. I'm thinking it's all about the bottom line and what's easy to moderate.
In fact, here's a [url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/06/01/man-peguis-homophobia... today that combines gay rights, First Nations and crime, with open comments. A gay man on a Manitoba reserve had his house burned down, and suspects it was a hate crime.
Though no individual is accused in the story, so maybe it is a case of the CBC only closing comments where an individual might be libeled.
The have a lot of stories about the militray closed for comment. The colonel for one. They have also closed any comment on Financial Post columns. This way they can report bullshit news and no one can say boo about how F'd our capitalist system is.
Write them a letter and ask them.
It seems to be there is no rhyme or reason why they do it. I notice the Star does the same thing on the stories we want to comment on the most, all the time. Thank goodness you can do it here on Rabble and they are always open it seems to me, but I don't get it with the Star because they are moderated and don't appear until someone checks them out. If it's offensive/libelous all they need to do, is delete it before it goes on the site. I think the Toronto Sun goes the other direction where they allow everything and I mean everything, most are pretty disgusting.
Another site that allows comments on almost any topic is BlogTo which is pretty cool if the other papers comments are closed.
Daniel .. Toronto
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