Abstract

User-generated content management poses a challenge to the media. It requires professional handling in order to facilitate user engagement and avoid verbal aggression. To illustrate this point, the article examines the comments posted to the online edition of Marca, the major Spanish sports newspaper. Empirical assessments of the data alongside interviews with the people in charge of the service were utilized. The analysis of the automatic filters, the Moderation Technology Platform (MTP), as well as the human filters comprehensively shows the itinerary through the system of every posted message. The study reflects on the best strategies to improve the quality of the online discussion. Results: The user history and the vocabulary blacklist seem to be the fundamental tools for moderating user comments. Marca removes 40% of the comments received. In practice, it has been observed that the percentage of inappropriate posts increases with the total number of posts sent by each reader: for 2 posts the rejection rate may be 14%, but for 9 it can reach 33%. One key issue to improve the quality of comments is the involvement of journalists in the conversations.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of two correlative empiric studies in which the author analyzes the role that advertising had in creating new forms of press in the late 20th century -free printed press and online press- and how these related to elements of journalistic design. The first study confirmed the central role that advertising has had in the creation of the free printed press and online press. The second study showed that both types of press have used journalistic elements in a similar way, by integrating the advertising component in page design. This research shows up the change it is happening in the press in relation to unpaid contents, with a clear bet to advertising content as opposed to news and its implications to the advertising sector.

Abstract

A new set of heuristic indicators is presented for the evaluation of the accessibility of statistical charts for people with impaired vision and color vision deficiency (CVD), as well as a methodology for their application. To validate the proposal, a heuristic evaluation of the accessibility of 35 charts published in 5 Spanish and 2 international newspapers is carried out. The results show that the proposed indicators enable the detection of a greater number of unique problems, present a better distribution of problems among heuristics, and enable the detection of more severe and specific problems compared with the Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG). Regarding the problems detected, the lack of text alternatives to charts in bitmap format stands out, a problem that also occurs in the case of charts in SVG format, for which standards such as WAI-ARIA are not used for labeling the marks. The latter also underlines the poor use of indicators to highlight the elements that receive focus, or their inaccessibility through a keyboard interface. Other common problems with both types of charts are the non-text contrast ratio, which in many cases is below the minimum required, too small a font size, or the non-systematization of the use of color palettes appropriate for people with CVD. The comparison between national and international media reveals that, although higher scores are obtained by international media, they share a significant number of the problems identified for Spanish media. The list of principles obtained, beyond proving helpful for evaluative purposes, is also useful as a guide for creating accessible charts that could be easily incorporated into the style guides of the analyzed media.