Enhancing the credibility of media institutions : an experimental analysis involving local television news organizations and the world wide web

A laboratory experiment was conducted to examine a new way local television news organizations could possibly enhance their credibility as a news source. It was hypothesized that local television news organizations identified as providing issue information on local congressional races on a web site would be rated as having greater community involvement and utility of information and ultimately greater levels of overall credibility. Data collected before and after a twenty-minute exposure to an experimental web site identifying local television news sources as the sponsor did not indicate any increase in perceived levels of community involvement, utility of information, or overall credibility. This study also looked at whether political issue information on the World Wide Web would be perceived differently when viewed on a site identified as being sponsored by a local television news source versus a site identified as being sponsored by an unfamiliar political interest group. While the results did not indicate a strong source effect, subjects tended to rate information from the television news sources as more accurate than the same information from the political interest group. This study also found that a twenty minute exposure to the issue information on the experimental web site led to statistically significant increases in voting confidence, likelihood of voting in the primary election, and recall of candidate names.