Press Ombudsman John Horgan talked about the legal difficulty of newspapers' online version vetting comments on articles. Addressing the DCU Journalism Society, he said he was aware that there are three full time journalists employed by the guardian to moderate reader comments. He also said that some comment threads just get too hot and are all wiped by the moderator. Talking about the legal repercussions, he said that comments must be very carefully moderated if they are to be included on newspaper websites.

Journalists are used because of their knowledge of media law and what constitutes defamation. This highlights another trend in that journalists are being asked to do something that isn't exactly the traditional definition of journalism.