Covenant Journal of Language Studies (CJLS)Vol. 1, No. 2, December, 2013. Ideological Discourse Analysis of the Functions of Feedback Comments on Online Reports of Socio-political Crises in Nigeria Esther Ajiboye Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria Abstract: This study examines discursive strategies in online news feedback platforms and their possible impact on readers‟ opinions and ideological perspectives. It argues that discourse forms and patterns in these platforms tend to reveal subjective value judgments, and these have the potential of moulding public opinions and social attitudes. Data comprises 201 reader comments collected from online news media reports on two socio-political crises in Nigeria. Findings reveal that news readers, as social actors use discourse to shape the attitudes and value judgments of other readers. This is achieved through the use of ideological strategies such as polarisation, generalisation and hyperbole among others. This study further establishes that interactions on news feedback forums are largely based on shared knowledge of the social context, and that socio-political crises give rise to lexical choices and discourse patterns that are controlled by already acquired ideological judgments of language users. Key Words: ideology, discourse, feedback comments, social crises, Nigeria 1. Introduction The development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its influence on virtually every aspect of human communication is largely responsible for the development of Computer-Mediated Communication (henceforth CMC). CMC involves human interpersonal communication via the instrumentality of computers (Herring, 1996). Computer-Mediated Discourse (henceforth CMD) is closely related to CMC; however it places emphasis on the analysis of language use in CMC through discourse analysis methods (Herring (2001). The platforms for CMD include weblogs (or blogs), Internet Relay Chats (IRCs), microblogs, e- mails, discussion forums among others. The Internet became popular in Nigeria in the early 1990‟s and the Nigerian media landscape began to explore the opportunities the new technology offered. Hence, a number of mainstream newspapers migrated to the Internet since it enables enhanced discursive opportunity structures for them (Kperogi, 2011). One of such is interactivity. The Internet enables online news media feedback platforms (such as discussion forums, comment boxes, sharing options on social networking sites at the end of news stories) where readers are able to respond to or react to the news contents by posting their comments and opinions on the news articles reported. Schultz (2000) compares these platforms of interactivity to the traditional newspapers‟ letters to the editor. In contrast to letters to the editor, readers‟ comments are not edited, editors only remove comments 128