Table_1_Assessing Levels and Forms of Incivility and Deliberative Quality in Online Discussions on COVID-19: A Cross-Platform Analysis.docx

Studying incivility in online discussions is a crucial research endeavor, especially in light of a pandemic, as user comments have been shown to be an important source of information and basis for opinion formation. Scholars are increasingly interested in studying incivility from a comparative perspective. This study contributes to this strand of literature by investigating incivility in user comments on the news website and Facebook site of the Austrian newspaper Der Standard. A content analysis (N = 240) was employed to identify forms and levels of incivility in user comments on topics related to COVID-19. Results show Facebook comments to be significantly less uncivil than user comments on the newspaper's website. Moreover, differences regarding the prevalence of the dimensions of incivility on the two platforms were identified. Finally, results suggest that incivility does not necessarily go hand in hand with lower levels of deliberative quality. Implications for news organizations and democracy are discussed.

探究网络讨论中的不文明现象是一项至关重要的研究任务，尤其是在疫情肆虐的背景下，用户评论已被证实是信息的重要来源和形成意见的基础。学者们日益关注从比较视角研究不文明现象。本研究通过调查奥地利报纸《标准》的新闻网站和Facebook网站上的用户评论中的不文明现象，为这一研究领域的文献做出了贡献。本研究采用了内容分析法（N = 240）来识别与COVID-19相关话题的用户评论中的不文明形式和程度。结果显示，Facebook上的评论相较于报纸网站上的用户评论，不文明程度显著较低。此外，还发现了两个平台上不文明现象各维度普遍性的差异。最后，研究结果暗示，不文明现象并不必然与较低的审议质量水平相伴随。本研究对新闻机构和民主的启示也进行了讨论。