Audience comments, the spice of history
"Packets of letters": audience comments before freedom of the press
"A sure sign of liberty, and a cause of it": audience feedback and the emergence of the free press
Commodification of comments: professional bias and gatekeeping of letters to the editor
Professional journalism's transformation of "a quaint tradition"
Concerning "crackpots": the media's love-hate relationship with feedback
"In my opinion ...": commenting as individual agency
"We, the people ...": commenting as collective action
Conclusion: Gatekeeping in an age without fences.