Public: Online sites ‘a credible source'

Recent research that contributed to a study on behalf of the Online News Association found that the public has largely accepted digital news as an important source of credible news.

Credibility has long been an issue with the media. Credibility is hard to define. It is hard to earn, and even harder to regain once it is lost. For decades, news organizations – especially traditional newspapers – have struggled to understand why readers find the media less and less credible. Or why some news organizations, such as cable news networks, have a higher credibility rating than older and more established (and local) news outlets. It is a vexing problem.

The issue of credibility grew even more complicated about eight years ago when the Internet offered the public a whole new, interactive way to obtain news and information. The newer question on the block now: How do the issues of credibility and reliability play out in the online news environment?

The answer is extremely encouraging for online news publishers. The public in increasing numbers (18 percent, according to the ONA report) is saying that Internet news is their most trusted source of news.

The report examined the reasons consumers (site visitors) use news online sites and the most important factors affecting story credibility. Some highlights include:

• When it comes to credibility, online readers are more concerned about accuracy than timeliness. In a list of 11 story characteristics affecting credibility, online readers rank "story is up to date" fifth, after accuracy, completeness, fairness and trusted source.
• Asked directly if the separation between advertising and editorial content matters to a news source's credibility, the public overwhelmingly (95.9 percent) says "Yes, it matters." But when ONA asked online readers to rank advertising-editorial independence as a variable affecting news credibility, it barely made the list (ninth of 11 attributes, ahead of audio/visual quality and entertainment value).
• About 40 percent of the online public are confident they can discriminate between advertising and editorial content, with another 30 percent expressing neutrality or a lack of opinion on the issue. That confidence is positively correlated with a reader's general trust of online news, which increases in time spent online and with the number of times a reader has visited a particular online news site. Familiarity breeds confidence.

- FTONEWS.com -