If you're a reader of comments sections on websites, you know they can be places where all kinds of speech flies freely: balanced comments, nasty comments, and -- some would say -- irresponsible comments. We tout the Web as the great democratizer, but are comments sections curated op-ed spaces or totally open free-for-alls?

Some call comments sections the new public square, but others say that the act of "trolling" actually stifles the ability for healthy public discourse. And how does a comments section reflect -- poorly or positively -- on the mission or brand of the company hosting the comments page? It's a question that has implications for free speech, and it's the topic of our next Policy and a Pint.

Host Steve Seel was joined by MPR News' News Cut blogger Bob Collins, University of Minnesota journalism professor Shayla Thiel-Stern, Julio Ojeda-Zapata from the Pioneer Press, and City Pages' Aaron Rupar for "Policy and a Pint: Uncivil Discourse - Comment Sections in the Digital Age" at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis.

(And we've enabled comments, so feel free to practice exchanging in civil discourse below.)

Policy and a Pint is a co-presentation by Citizens League and The Current.

Gallery

Fullscreen SlidePrevious Slide

6 of 6

1 of 6

2 of 6

Next Slide