Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1990

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Michael W. Singletary

Committee Members

Herbert H. Howard, J. Michael Pemberton, Norman S. Swan

Abstract

Although it appears that more newscasters such as Paul Harvey and Linda Ellerbee are becoming involved in commercial advertising, few studies have focused on how newscaster involvement in commercial advertising may affect audience perception of their credibility. This question was investigated at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1989. Eighty behavioral science students were divided into four groups and exposed to different audiotaped simulated newscasts in which newscaster participation in commercial messages and newscaster sex were the manipulated independent variables. Subjects rated the newscasters on thirty variables thought to be related to credibility. The results were factor analyzed and reduced to six variables representing the construct of credibility. Analyses of variance tests were performed on the factors across treatment groups to test for differences among groups. Involvement in commercial messages did not appear to affect perceived credibility of the male newscaster. The female newscaster, however, was rated significantly less credible when she was involved in commercial messages than when she was uninvolved in commercial messages. This indicates that commercial involvement may not affect male and female newscasters in the same manner.

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