Website comments provide a forum for vital debate

By ANDERS GYLLENHAAL

agyllenhaal@MiamiHerald.com

When the power went out in South Florida two weeks ago, reporters gathered much of their most valuable information not from emergency workers or Florida Power & Light, but from the hundreds of readers who posted their version of events on MiamiHerald.com.

When Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor was killed last fall, thousands of readers filled The Miami Herald's website every day for more than a week with remembrances, condolences and debate over a senseless crime.

Something extraordinary is going on with what might be considered the next generation of letters to the editor. In the six months since The Miami Herald began publishing comments at the end of online stories, the response has been like nothing we've seen before.

Hundreds of thousands of readers are posting comments or following along with them each month. The commentary ranges from thoughtful insights on the news to valuable leads on stories to some of the most bitter, profane and abusive language imaginable.

Therein lies the rub.

From the first week the commenting launched, enabled by a simple form available at the end of online stories, it was obvious the new tool was going to be both a powerful form of expression and an easily misused bullhorn.

Stories like last year's series of police shootings prompted vast emotional outpourings that accumulated pages upon pages of condolences to the families and condemnations of the crimes. As deep as the paper's coverage might have been of these tragedies, the waves of those messages had a power all their own.

Other stories have stirred robust debates over big public issues of the day, from the war to the baseball stadium. Many readers return so regularly they come to know the names, politics and positions of fellow posters -- few of whom they ever meet -- as if they were neighbors.

And yet on too many stories, the comments swerve across the clear lines of common decency. Whenever the news brushes up against the cultural fault lines of our times -- from race relations to illegal immigration -- the postings can turn vicious, personal and outright racist.

Some readers have asked why the paper puts up with the excesses -- or doesn't do more to curb them. A few weeks ago The Miami Herald's ombudsman aired dozens of the reactions. As one recent caller put it: ``Why don't you just shut this down?''

THE POTENTIAL

The simple answer is that there's too much potential in this exchange for the kind of free-wheeling debate that every community needs.

The more complicated part is figuring out how to create the right kind of atmosphere, which is something we've been working on steadily for months.

We've tried a number of things: A team of editors reads over the message pages throughout the day and at night when the news is heavy and removes comments that are clearly out of bounds.

We've created filters to block offensive words and profanity, a list of which now stretches to 150 words in three languages.

Starting this week, readers wishing to post comments need to be registered with MiamiHerald.com, a simple step that becomes invisible on subsequent visits. Anyone already registered doesn't need to do anything. Readers' sign-ons are automatically attached to their comments.

This last measure took some time to put into place for technical reasons but has quickly helped shape the tenor of the debate. We hope these steps will enable this important discussion to thrive. The appeal of the comment pages is that the paper steps out of the way and lets readers take over.

Shelley Acoca, The Herald's editor devoted to reader exchange, has thought about this topic as much as anyone. She oversees the comments pages, watches for patterns and problems and ponders the future of the project.

SEEING THE BENEFITS

The work, she says, is worth it.

''I just think it's something we have to make work. This community really benefits from the discussion, particularly on things where we don't agree with each other,'' Acoca said. ``We have so many people who've come from places where freedom of expression isn't allowed. It's all the more important that we find a way to provide a place at the center of the community for all kinds of opinion.''

Halle Berry names newborn daughter Nahla Ariela

Comments (7)

Halle Berry has carried on the tradition of celebrities giving their offspring unusual names, calling her newborn daughter Nahla Ariela Aubry.

The Oscar-winning actress gave birth to her much longed for baby girl on Sunday morning.

Nahla means honeybee in Arabic, says Michael D. Cooperson, associate professor of Arabic at UCLA.

The girl's middle name Ariela comes from Hebrew and means "lion for God".

Nahla takes the surname of her father, model Gabriel Aubry, as opposed to that of her world-famous mother.

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Joy: Halle Berry, seen here on Saturday just a day before she gave birth to a baby girl at Cedars Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles on Sunday morning

Berry, 41, is not the first Hollywood A-lister to look to Hebrew in naming her child.

The name of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's youngest child Shiloh is derived from Hebrew origin, meaning 'His gift'.

The actress gave birth at Cedars Sinai hospital to 7 lb 4 oz Nahla Ariela - her first child.

Berry met boyfriend Aubry while shooting a Versace ad in Los Angeles in November 2005 and first stepped out publicly together three months later at the February 2006 opening of a Versace boutique in New York City.

It was in September last year, that Berry first announced her pregnancy, when she was three months along.

And the actress reportedly did 35 home pregnancy tests before she believed the positive result and has said: "I wanted this for so long."

She said her pregnancy has been a dream. "No morning sickness, no vomiting, no hot sweats. I've loved every second of it."

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Halle and boyfriend Gabriel Aubry have named their daughter Nahla Ariela, names of Arabic and Hebrew origin

Proud parents: Halle and Gabriel seen here at a Versace party together in 2006

Last month she graced the cover of the February issue of In Style clad in a Grecian-style one-shoulder white dress, hands resting on her prominent tummy.

"I may only do this one time, so I want this moment to be as big as it can be," she told the magazine.

"I want the biggest bang I can possibly imagine."

The actress has two failed marriages behind her but now appears to have found happiness with the French-Canadian model.

However, the couple have no plans to marry.

Halle told chat show host Oprah Winfrey last year: "I feel more married, in a way, than I ever have in two marriages before.

"He really understands the spiritual connection is so much more important than the paper and the pomp and circumstance and the ceremony."

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