Print media use and perceived credibility among senior congressional staff

Print media play a key role in bringing political and policy-related information to congressional staff. This study investigates print media use and perceived credibility among the three senior congressional staff positions: administrative assistant, legislative director and press secretary. It explores, first, the publications used most frequently by senior personal staff members for public affairs news and, second, the degree to which specific publications are perceived as credible. Media credibility is rated on four criteria: bias, completeness, accuracy and trustworthiness. A questionnaire survey was hand-delivered in November and December 1991 to 535 top-level House and Senate staffers chosen in a systematic sample. The questionnaire was returned by mail in a self-addressed, stamped envelope. A second delivery was made to nonrespondents, resulting in a total response rate of 37.4 percent. Several demographic and political factors were considered for their correlative value with respect to print media use and credibility. The three variables of primary interest here were political party affiliation, body of Congress in which one works, and staff position. Cross-tabulations and t-tests were used for analytical purposes regarding publication preference, frequency of usage and credibility ratings as functions of the three key independent variables. Political party was shown to correlate most strongly with the frequency of usage of particular publications, as well as with perceptions of publication credibility. Several significant correlations were found with respect to staff position. House of Congress in which one works had little correlative significance concerning print media usage or credibility.