Everyday opinions in news discussion forums: Public vernacular discourse

Abstract

<p>In this paper, news discussion forums are studied as vernacular public discourse and as a communicative genre in the digital context. First, these forums are defined as a vernacular public discourse since users base their reasoning on private sphere stancetaking, and their views do not receive legitimation. Additionally, the participants comprise a hybrid public that shares networking but not necessarily a common ground on the topic being discussed. Second, news discussion forums are based on the communicative activity of commenting as they are initiated by a news article or other types of professional news content. They can be compared to content-based and knowledge-based discussions in social media, but they have their own specific characteristics. Third, the users do not necessarily reveal their source of knowledge, but when they do, references are of a general nature or they are anchored in the private sphere of the participants. </p>