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Credibility and the Internet

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Date Issued:
2010
Summary:
The Internet has revolutionized the way in which people are entertained, communicate and collect information. As people increase their ability to connect with the outside world from inside their homes, they hold the power to become their own gatekeepers filtering information as they see fit. Many question whether this will weaken the power of the traditional media sources that are often seen as elitist and potentially biased. This researcher hypothesized that people who cite high credibility ratings of news media channels are more likely to use traditional media channels such as television and newspapers and people who cite low credibility ratings of news media channels are more likely to use alternate media channels such as the Internet. While the researcher was unable to reject the null hypothesis, a pattern of general mistrust of traditional news media was revealed when nearly three-fourths of respondents gave traditional media channels a "not-credible" rating.
Title: Credibility and the Internet: can credibility levels indicate news medium choice?.
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Name(s): Herring, Katrina.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of Political Science
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2010
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: vi, 105 p. : ill. (some col.)
Language(s): English
Summary: The Internet has revolutionized the way in which people are entertained, communicate and collect information. As people increase their ability to connect with the outside world from inside their homes, they hold the power to become their own gatekeepers filtering information as they see fit. Many question whether this will weaken the power of the traditional media sources that are often seen as elitist and potentially biased. This researcher hypothesized that people who cite high credibility ratings of news media channels are more likely to use traditional media channels such as television and newspapers and people who cite low credibility ratings of news media channels are more likely to use alternate media channels such as the Internet. While the researcher was unable to reject the null hypothesis, a pattern of general mistrust of traditional news media was revealed when nearly three-fourths of respondents gave traditional media channels a "not-credible" rating.
Identifier: 608678860 (oclc), 1927304 (digitool), FADT1927304 (IID), fau:2944 (fedora)
Note(s): by Katrina Herring.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010.
Includes bibliography.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Electronic information resources -- Evaluation
Information behavior
Mass media -- Social aspects
Mass media and technology
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927304
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU