Ekaterina Ognianova
Published: 1997
Total Pages: 576
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The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether audiences are sensitive to the credibility and identity of the various news providers on the World Wide Web and, if so, what are the effects of perceived source credibility and identity on cognitive, attitudinal, and conative responses to the online news services and their content, both news and advertising. An experiment was conducted with two different samples, a convenience sample of 471 undergraduate students, and a sample of 402 Midwestern community residents, more than half of them recruited randomly. The main manipulation, identity of an online news provider, had four levels: a newspaper online (source identified, associated with journalism); a television network online (source identified, associated with journalism, but representing a different medium), a travel agency online (source identified, no association with journalism), and no identity (control, also testing the default inferences about the particular Web news service viewed). An exploratory part of the study found people are sensitive to source, specifically whether it is identified or not; to the content presented in the media; and to the technology that delivers the content. Tests of twelve hypotheses showed people are also sensitive to the identity of the online content provider, specifically whether it is associated with journalism or not and whether it is specialized in a particular area. Further, participants differed in their responses to a newspaper online and a television network online. Among the four experimental conditions, sources associated with journalism, e.g., an online newspaper or a television network online, were found most credible. Stories and ads in them were perceived as most credible. Stories were more likely to be correctly recalled if the source was perceived to be a newspaper. There was also some evidence for better ad recall and ad claim recognition in the newspaper and television conditions. Attitudes toward the stories were most positive in the newspaper as perceived source. Attitudes toward the brands were the best in the television condition and there was also evidence the newspaper condition was positively associated with attitudes toward the brands. Finally, likelihood of subscribing to the online news service was the highest among those participants in the student sample who perceived the online source as a newspaper.