Conference presentation
Markers of credibility on citizen journalism web sites
Drexel University. College of Information Science and Technology. Research Day Posters.
03 Jul 2007
Abstract
Credibility in mainstream media continues to wane, giving rise to new forms of journalism supported by the Internet. One of these new forms of journalism is citizen journalism. This is a form of journalism in which content is produced by ordinary citizens, usually on web sites. One of the most popular citizen journalism web sites in the world at this time is OhMyNews.com. Like mainstream media, this site, as well as ones like it, have credibility obstacles to overcome. In this study the researcher tests whether or not the presence of information about a writer and sources used to write a story on a citizen journalism web site affects the perceived credibility of the story. One hundred and twenty subjects were asked to read three stories from OhMyNews.com and then rate those stories in terms of their perceived credibility. Some of the subjects were presented with information about the writer's background and a picture of the writer, some were able to follow hyperlinks imbedded in the story to verify information contained in it, and others were presented with both. The results from the groups were compared to see if the additional information given to subjects had an impact on their perceived credibility of the story. This research will help online journalists understand how to increase the credibility of the stories they write, and will add to the understanding of the factors that influence perceptions of information credibility.
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Details
- Title
- Markers of credibility on citizen journalism web sites
- Creators
- Kirsten A. Johnson (Author) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Publication Details
- Drexel University. College of Information Science and Technology. Research Day Posters.
- Resource Type
- Conference presentation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- DU; College of Information Science and Technology (1995-2013)
- Identifiers
- 991014632672704721