Cynics and skeptics: Evaluating the credibility of mainstream and citizen journalism

D. Jasun Carr, Matthew Barnidge*, Byung Gu Lee, Stephanie Jean TSANG

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

98 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

With the increase in citizen-generated news, the need to understand how individual predispositions interact with news sources to influence perceptions of news credibility becomes increasingly important. Using a web-based experiment, this study examines the influences individual predispositions toward the media and politics have on perceived credibility of mainstream and citizen journalism. Analyzing data drawn from a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, results indicate that media skepticism and political cynicism interact, such that cynics and skeptics perceive citizen journalism as more credible, while non-cynics and non-skeptics think mainstream journalism is more credible.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)452-470
Number of pages19
JournalJournalism and Mass Communication Quarterly
Volume91
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2014

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Communication

User-Defined Keywords

  • Citizen journalism
  • Media credibility
  • Media skepticism
  • Political cynicism

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