Content Analyses of User Comments in Journalism: A Systematic Literature Review Spanning Communication Studies and Computer Science

Different disciplines have studied the content of online user comments in various contexts, using manual qualitative/quantitative or (semi-)automated approaches. The broad spectrum and disciplinary divides make it difficult to grasp an overview of those aspects which have already been examined, e.g. to identify findings related to one’s own research, recommendable methodological approaches, and under-researched topics. We introduce a systematic literature review concerning content analyses of user comments in a journalistic context. Our review covers 192 papers identified through a systematic search focussing on communication studies and computer science. We find that research predominantly concentrates on the comment sections of Anglo-American newspaper brands and on aspects like hate speech, general incivility, or users’ opinions on specific issues, while disregarding media from other parts of the world, comments in social media, propaganda, and constructive comments. From our results we derive a research agenda that addresses research gaps and also highlights potentials for automating analyses as well as for cooperation across disciplines.

不同学科已在多样场景下针对在线用户评论内容展开研究，所采用的方法涵盖人工定性/定量分析或（半）自动化分析手段。研究范畴的广泛性与学科间的壁垒，使得研究者难以全面梳理已被探讨过的研究维度——例如，难以定位与自身研究相关的既有发现、可借鉴的方法论路径，以及尚未得到充分探索的研究主题。本研究提出一项针对新闻场景下用户评论内容分析的系统性文献综述。本次综述纳入了通过系统性检索筛选出的192篇文献，检索范围聚焦于传播学与计算机科学领域。研究发现，现有研究主要聚焦于英美报刊品牌的评论区，以及仇恨言论、一般性不文明行为、用户对特定议题的观点等维度，却忽视了世界其他地区的媒体平台、社交媒体中的评论、宣传内容以及建设性评论。基于上述研究结果，本研究提出了针对性的研究议程，既填补了现有研究空白，同时也点明了分析自动化与跨学科合作的发展潜力。