Online News Credibility: An Examination of the Perceptions of Newspaper Journalists

Abstract

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.

The Role of Media Socialization Agents in Increasing Obesity Health Literacy Among Malaysian Youth

“…The past researches stated that the most important socialization agents is parents, peer groups (Chan & Tsang, 2011), and media (Paek et al, 2010) respectively, the researchers' finding matches with one of the previous research, Kiousis as cited in Cassidy (2007), that states newspapers have the highest credibility for news information.…”

Blogs, news and credibility

“…Yet journalists who work for online news providers place greater trust in web-based news sources that more traditional sources in terms of perceived source accuracy, believability, fairness and overall credibility (Cassidy, 2007).…”

“…Trammell, Porter, Chung and Kim (2006) who worked within the medium trusted it more than those who did not (Cassidy, 2007).…”

Credibilidad percibida del periodismo a través de la Internet: una visión desde la psicología del consumidor

“…Los resultados respecto a la credibilidad en la Internet y la dependencia de este, por parte del consumidor discrepan de lo hallado por Cassidy (2007), con alto grado de dependencia al Internet se encontraron puntuaciones más bajas en cuanto al nivel de credibilidad de este medio. No obstante, se hallaron resultados similares a los encontrados por Busy (2003), donde los más jóvenes suelen juzgar como creíble en primer lugar al internet.…”

“…Igualmente, la dependencia del Internet, la confianza en los mensajes y en su contenido se hallan relacionadas con la credibilidad percibida, como lo reportó Cassidy (2007).…”