This study examines print and online daily newspaper journalists' perceptions of the credibility of Internet news information, as well as the influence of several factorsmost notably, professional role conceptions-on those perceptions. Credibility was measured as a multidimensional construct. The results of a survey of U.S. journalists (N = 655) show that Internet news information was viewed as moderately credible overall and that online newspaper journalists rated Internet news information as significantly more credible than did print newspaper journalists. Hierarchical regression analyses reveal that Internet reliance was a strong positive predictor of credibility. Two professional role conceptions also emerged as significant predictors. The populist mobilizer role conception was a significant positive predictor of online news credibility, while the adversarial role conception was a significant negative predictor. Demographic characteristics of print and online daily newspaper journalists did not influence their perceptions of online news credibility.

A national survey (N=655) examining the professional role conceptions of print and online newspaper journalists revealed the print group perceived the Interpretive/Investigative role as significantly more important than the online group. No significant differences were found between the groups in their perceptions of the Adversarial and Populist Mobilizer roles. Results were mixed for the Disseminator role. The online group rated getting information to the public as quickly as possible as significantly more important than the print group. William P. Cassidy is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

__________________________________________Gatekeepi ng theory has been called "one of the most easily accessible theories" 1 and is certainly one of the most enduring in mass communication research. 2 Shoemaker writes that the basic idea of gatekeeping-that there is some selectivity in how and how many news items are presented-has always been apparent. 3 Initial inquiries into gatekeeping theory looked at the decisions of a lone gatekeeper. 4 However, subsequent analyses of that research contend that the work of those individual gatekeepers was influenced by other levels of gatekeeping forces, such as the professional routines of journalists and the influence of the news organization, 5 thus revealing gatekeeping to be more complex than previously thought. In fact, Shoemaker, Eichholz, Kim and Wrigley assert that "gatekeeping in mass communication can be seen as the overall process through which the social reality transmitted by the news media is constructed." 6 Recent efforts 7 have integrated gatekeeping theory with Shoemaker and Reese's hierarchical model of news influences, which allows for the study of gatekeeping on five levels of analysis-individual, routine, organizational characteristics, extramedia and ideological. 8 Gatekeeping theory has also been labeled an effective conceptual approach to studying online journalists. 9 This project seeks to further extend these areas of research through an examination of the influence of gatekeeping forces at the individual and routine levels on the professional role conceptions of print and online daily newspaper journalists.Cassidy is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

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This article examines the influence of extramedia (outside) forces on the newsworthiness conceptions of U.S. online and print daily newspaper journalists. A national survey (N=655) found that while extramedia forces exerted only a moderate influence overall, they were more influential on the online group. Online daily newspaper journalists rated Audience Research, Advertisers, Public Opinion Polls, Wire Service Budgets and Prestige Publications are significantly more influential than did print daily newspaper journalists. The findings suggest that journalists in the online environment are reconceptualizing their gate-keeping roles.