Exploring the Social Media Culture of Commenting: Youtube Users Sentiments of “Misinformation” on International News Media Sphere.

In the 21st century, the Internet has continued to play a role in breaking news and especially in emergency situations. Social media as an alternate public sphere provides users a platform to seek out clarification, debate, and spread information. Information that might be perceived to be misinformation has become a challenge in both the local news and the international media sphere. Although different scholars have debated this aspect, a review of the relevant literature indicates that few scholars have explored this issue in line with the culture of commenting. The culture of news consumers in the digital age shapes the development of news stories as they seek to find a credible source of information for consumption. This study recognizes that the assumption of misinformation is a very complex problem that is subject to diverse cultural analysis and incessant discourse among experts. Therefore, this study explored the sentiments of YouTube users in the international media sphere in regards to perceived misinformation and the social media culture of commenting. The study investigated YouTube as a communicative platform through the analysis of the content of YouTube channels owned by the media. The study utilized ExportComments.com, a data extraction tool to extract both quantitative and qualitative data from the YouTube channels, and conducted a thematic content qualitative analysis of the comments. This study contributes to the overall public sphere theory. It is imperative for the media to adapt to pro-truth while audience engagement and news media literacy are vital in the age of fake news.