Twitter used to be a place to take a look at what people were posting for comments on local newspaper articles.
I noticed comments on a local newspaper site here are pretty much dead:
This is not the only newspaper. Things used to be different.
Why did this happen?
Kitsap Sun: no longer posting.
Sequim Gazette: comments are mostly inactive.
Peninsula Daily News: comments are mostly inactive.
Restricting And Suppressing Local News Comment Sections
Years ago, I lived in several different small town areas. Places like Kingston, Port Hadlock and north of Penn Cove.
These areas had small, local newspapers and those papers featured active, online comment sections. Paying for a newspaper subscription was OK with me. There were basic rules for commenting, but it did not seem to matter what name people went by. I never cared.
I used to love the comment sections.
Local papers have stripped away all comments from past articles, and removed the opportunity to post comments to new articles.
Various newspapers in the Puget Sound area have gone with this trend.
I’d be more interested in paying (again) for a local paper subscription if there was more in the way of investigative reporting & newspeople asking questions. Elimination of reader comments works against the idea of paying for an online subscription.
Suppressing comments, getting away from asking questions related to public policy and telling us they need more support from subscription and advertising sales.
Got it.
After local newspapers shut down comments, people could still go to Twitter and take a look at what people were posting for comments. Some papers have since shut down posting of their news articles on what is now called X.
Some papers still post to X, but commenting is mostly inactive.
YouTube can be a very good place to view active comment sections, but it may be tricky to find a video that relates to a news story/public policy update you are looking for.
US Armed Forces Recruiting Crisis – Comments Are Turned Off
Here is a hand selected lady who was surprised (1:12) to get a phone call of support from The First Lady- even though cameras were rolling in her home when the phone rang:
“Comments are turned off.”
PBS News Video – Experts Deliver Their Report
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon seems to specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. Understandable why young people & their parents & grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
The Armed Forces recruiting crisis was earned by the politicians, generals, and high ranking civilians who have been running the Pentagon over the past 30 years or so. The crisis is also upon us due to newspeople not asking questions going back to the time the Cold War ended.
Flag officers and high level DOD civilians built careers made of undeclared/unwon wars. Now they must mastermind ways to recruit a new generation.
They are going to tell us how all this works.
Oct 30, 2024 PBS News
WATCH: U.S. military leaders hold briefing on recruitment goals and challenges for 2025
“Comments are turned off.”
If comments were open:
Some will say obese teens and young adults are to blame for the big recruiting crisis. Thousands of young, intelligent and athletic Americans participate in college athletics each year. Certainly, they would qualify to enlist- no rehab/prep program required.
Why are these people not showing up at the recruiting office?
US press plays along by not asking questions and shutting down or suppressing comment sections.
Watched the entire video above. Zero questions on how flag officers and high level DOD civilians allowed for this:
MOAA Sept. 25, 2023
Military Barracks Blasted Over Horrid Living Conditions, Lack of Accountability
Related:
Sound Publishing And Black Press Media
Manage it, don’t ban it. Online comment sections
Internet was better 20 years ago
Port Angeles – Federal Employees Create News Story About 342 Pounds Of Meth
Port Angeles Homeland Security & CBP Buildup
Land of Information Suppression
Photo-
USMC Okinawa – 1980