Keepers of the comments: How comment moderators handle audience contributions

As news commenting has evolved as a participatory tool and journalists have developed traditional practices for moderation, there are questions about how to promote quality spaces for news discourse. Using gatekeeping theory, this study analyzes in-depth interviews with 13 news comment moderators to understand how these individuals establish moderation routines and define their professional role. This provides new insight into the journalist–audience relationship and the development of new media practices for online news production.