The publishers of www.tax.de issued a statement to readers claiming that the journalists who moderate the site could 'no longer tolerate' the 'unjustified comments from visitors'.
The journalists and volunteering editors who moderate the forum had been engaged in a long-running argument with users about censorship and the protection of visitors from prejudiced or offensive comments posted to the site.
In a statement on the site, the newspaper said: "We do not have the staff and assets to guarantee a professional moderation of the forum... Despite a precise definition of such words as defamatory, sexist, racist and so on, there will always be a grey zone. In recent months, unjustified complaints from former and present visitors of the forum have increased to such an amount that we and the directly involved journalists cannot tolerate this any longer." Apparently a specially introduced 'anger zone' had done little to improve the atmosphere.
Jens Cornelissen of Europemedia Net said: "The bottom line is that for once the users, not the struggling media company, have wasted a valid platform for open information exchange."
Source: Please click here
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
Related articles
- Tip: Building trust for your media business during the covid-19 pandemic
- International news publishers frustrated with UK Brexit coverage as audiences demand better information
- How the EJC grants support cross-border collaborative health reporting
- German non-profit CORRECTIV to replicate the successful investigative journalism model used by the Bureau Local
- Tip: Bookmark this list of newsletters to keep up with changes in the media industry
