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By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Media Issues

(Angela A. Bowers for CBSNews.com)

"If you're an African American and you read about someone being called a porch monkey, that overrides any positive thing that you would read in the comments. You're starting to see some of the language you see on neo-Nazi sites, and that's not good for The Washington Post or for the subjects in those stories."

--Washington Post reporter Darryl Fears, who believes that reader comments on stories should be eliminated if the Post cannot filter out offensive comments in advance. Washingtonpost.com Executive Editor Jim Brady told Howard Kurtz he lacks the resources to screen all the comments that come in daily.

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by ronmwanga March 27, 2007 1:16 AM EDT: That's the kicker, isn't it? You want to give as many voices a chance at interacting with the content, but if people are going to write irrefutably offensive comments -- on a major media vehicle -- at a rate that makes it prohibitive to "police," then what? And what about the smaller entities that cannot afford a "comment bouncer"?; Reply to this comment