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Motherhood forums as arenas for political debate – An analysis of online discussions about the welfare state. This article analyses online debate in a popular Norwegian discussion forum for mothers, a forum in which participants discuss a wide range of topics that includes news and politics. A quantitative and qualitative textual analysis is given of forum discussions on welfare services and welfare politics, and how these are understood in relation to the Norwegian welfare state. Findings are contextualized in light of a theoretical perspective drawing on public sphere theory and the concept cultural citizenship.

Abstract The terrorist attacks in Oslo on 22 July 2011 led to a comprehensive public debate about the systems for online debate in Norwegian newspapers. Through interviews with editors and moderators, this article examines changes made in the facilitation and administration of online debate in four central newspapers after the terrorist attack. In different ways, the three largest newspapers tightened their control in four important areas: Identification of the participants, pre-publication moderation, control over the agenda of the debate and more active moderation of it. These changes are interpreted as moderate alteration from an initially anarchic policy towards a more intervening policy concerning the regulation of online debate.