This paper analyzes the comments of online newspapers readers' comments on the Chibok secondary school girls' kidnap. Public Deliberation Theory, an offshoot of Habermas concept of the 'public sphere' was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study. The researcher used Mckeess post-structuralist approach and made educated guesses about the contextual meaning of the comments. Online versions of two newspapers, Daily Trust and Vanguard were used as the stimulus for the study. Data for the study were compiled over a three week period through purposive sampling technique. Findings revealed that online comments are often influenced by ethnic, religious and cultural affiliations. Also, banality, frustration and hostility are present in the tones of commenters.
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Keywords: Internet, Public Sphere, Commenters, Online Newspaper, Mainstream
Media.