Online Journalism News

Google News to accept comments

Google News has launched an experimental feature allowing those involved in a specific story to submit comments to appear under the links to the original articles.

The system, which is being trailed in English on its US news site this week, is aimed at 'enhancing the news experience' of those using the search engine.

Google News is asking those mentioned in a story to email them with comment, a link to the story to which the comment relates and contact details - name, title, and organisation - so that they can verify the identity the individual.

The search giant will then select comments to publish with the story links.

"We'll be trying out a mechanism for publishing comments from a special subset of readers: those people or organisations who were actual participants in the story in question," read the post on the Google News blog.

"Our long-term vision is that any participant will be able to send in their comments, and we'll show them next to the articles about the story.

"Comments will be published in full, without any edits, but marked as 'comments' so readers know it's the individual's perspective, rather than part of a journalist's report."

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