Faculty Researcher: Dr. Shyam Sundar Sethuraman
For a complete report of this research, see:
Sundar, S. S. (1998). Effect of Source Attribution on Perception of Online News Stories. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 75(1), 55-68.
Sundar, S. S. (1996, August). Do Quotes Affect Perception of Online News Stories? Paper presented at the 79th annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Anaheim, CA.
Introduction
Most online users receive "news" from various sources - electronic mail from cyber-acquaintances, mailings from distribution lists, newsgroup postings, websites, and a growing number of online news stories. Given the multiplicity of sources, it is likely that online users may not remember which source supplied which piece of information or news. This is especially worrisome with the recent proliferation of online stories that have little or no sourcing. The internet has made it possible for gossip and rumor to not only gain wide circulation but also attain the status of news. Thus, many mainstream press reports are based on unsubstantiated information posted on the internet. An important implication of this phenomenon is the gradual decline in the psychological importance of sources in the perception of online news stories. The purpose of the present study, therefore, was to determine whether the presence of quoted sources in online news stories makes any difference to readers' perceptions of news content. "Source" was operationalized as a person or institution quoted within a news story.
Readers, especially those with a print orientation, seem to notice sources of quotes as well as to form impressions based upon the sources' quoted remarks. However, their reliance on quoted sources for evaluating the quality, credibility, and newswothiness of news stories is unclear given ambiguous findings in past research. The present study is designed in part to address this ambiguity by investigating the effects of source attribution in four distinct areas of news story perception: Credibility, Liking, Quality, and Representativeness (newsworthiness).
Method
All participants (N=48) in a within-participants experiment read six news stories each on an online news service. Three of these six stories had quotes in them while the other three did not have any quotes. After reading each story, participants filled out a paper-and-pencil questionnaire evaluating their liking for - and the credibility, quality, and representativeness of - the news story they had just read.
Results
The results indicate that quoted sources clearly matter on two out of the four areas of news perception. Receivers estimated the credibility and quality of stories with quotations to be significantly higher than identical stories without quotations. That is, they found the stories with source attribution to be significantly more believable and objective than comparable news stories with identical content but without source attribution. They also rated the writing caliber of stories with source attribution to be significantly superior to identical stories without source attribution. However, they did not seem to think that quotations made a difference to either the representativeness of-or their liking for-news stories.
Conclusion
The findings from this study clarify previously ambiguous results with quote effects in journalism research, while also showcasing the importance of sources in online news. It appears that online users do notice quotes in news stories transmitted digitally, and actively use them in evaluating story credibility and quality. A clear practical implication of this finding is that poorly sourced stories on the internet will be evaluated negatively by readers. On another level, the findings suggest that online publishers need to invest in careful gatekeeping practices in order to be evaluated positively by their readers.
Shyam Sundar Sethuraman
Associate Professor and Director
Media Effects Research Laboratory
College of Communications
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802
Ph: (814) 865 2173
E-mail: sss12@psu.edu
Back to Research Projects Page
Media Effects Research Laboratory |
 |