KEEPING HATE SPEECH AT THE GATES: MODERATING PRACTICES AT THREE SLOVENIAN NEWS WEBSITES.

The study explores the decision-making rationale of news websites' moderators who keep hate speech at the gates by reviewing and selecting users' comments for publication under news items. By using document analysis, newsroom observations and interviews, the study indicates a combination of traditional and network gatekeeping at three leading Slovenian news websites. The adopted minimal measures for regulating hate speech at 24ur.com, Siol.net and Rtvslo.si and their various gatekeeping mechanisms call for reconsideration of some central issues in contemporary social communication: the gatekeeping model and technological innovation as well as multivalent roles of news media in public life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]