Obama stories prompt racist postings
ONLINE | CBS Web site has to ban reader responses
Mike Sims, director of news and operations for CBS News.com, explained the reason for the new policy in a story on the Web site's Public Eye section.
"We have our rules of engagement," Sims said Friday. "They prohibit personal attacks, especially racist attacks. Stories about Obama have been problematic, and we won't tolerate it."
Sims said the news group sometimes deletes questionable individual comments, but he said this wasn't working with Obama stories because of "the volume and the persistence" of the comments.
CBSNews.com didn't plan to disable comments for stories on the other presidential candidates, Sims said, adding that he hasn't ruled out allowing them again for Obama stories. "But at this point, it's not possible," Sims said.
The junior Democratic senator from Illinois was placed under full-time Secret Service protection Thursday.
Sen. Dick Durbin said Friday that Obama's Secret Service detail "had a lot to do with race."