A discussion about the notion of credibility and its relevance in an era of citizen journalism requires clear definitions of the terms ‘credibility’ and ‘citizen journalism’, as they are understood in the new media environment. The term ‘credibility’ in particular, necessitates lengthy consideration because, as studies show, alongside new ways of producing and consuming information, new patterns have emerged for perceiving credibility specifically to new media technologies. These new standards have arisen in addition to those conventionally attributed to traditional media. This essay will argue that the notion of credibility in the new media environment is no less relevant than it is in relation to traditional media. Instead, notions of credibility have shifted to meet the multimedia platform. That is, users of new media “seem to apply different criteria to different media” (Carroll et al. p. 31). Moreover, the benchmarks for assessing credibility vary according to the perceived role of media.
From the mid 1990s, the legitimacy of traditional media models has been progressively challenged by a convergence of digital media platforms, which have enabled new, engaging models of news production, that allow “collaborative editing and user participation” ((Flew, 2009, p. 104). This has the potential to change the top-down, passive structure of traditional news content generated by professional journalists to a framework where “everyone is a [potential] journalist” (p. 91). Credibility in this regard is very relevant because it inevitably signals a decrease in editorial control of online news, particularly that generated by citizen journalists. In defining the key terms discussed in this essay, citizen journalists can be seen as those who “produce, disseminate, and exchange a wide variety of news and information and… contribute to the public sphere” (Nah 2012, p. 716). The public sphere perspective “emphasizes open public communication and interaction among citizens, which is crucial for… a democratic society” (Nah and Chung, 2012, p.715). Such a viewpoint links citizen journalism with public and participatory discourse. Johnson and Wiedenbeck (2009) also refer to citizen journalism as “participatory journalism”, in which discussion flows between writer and readers. This “publish-then-filter” model is in direct contrast to the “filter-then-publish” model of traditional journalism, in which stories are written by professional journalists and then edited prior to publication (Johnson and Wiedenbeck, 2009). They argue that the simultaneous decline in trust of traditional media and steady increase in online readership has not only given rise to citizen journalism, it has placed greater importance on its role in terms of trust and credibility.
The term ‘citizen journalism’ refers to “grassroots journalism” or “participatory journalism”, which is “produced by citizens with no formal training” (Johnson and Wiedenbeck, 2009). Terry Flew (2009) cites a distinction made by Deuze (2003) “between the ‘Web-based journalism’ developed by traditional media, which is largely existing content repurposed… for the online space while maintaining closed… editorial cultures”, and that produced by citizen journalists, who operate within the online environment. These “newer and more dialogical forms” of news production facilitate more collaborative, participatory, and fluid modes of communication” (Flew 2009, p. 104).
Notions of credibility are not easy to delineate. Carroll and Richardson (2011) state that there are no specific or widely accepted definitions in relation to media. When assessing credibility, “people seem to apply different criteria to different media” (p. 31). This alludes to the distinction between “source credibility” and “media or message credibility”, which again is difficult to differentiate (Johnson and Wiedenbeck, 2009). For example, in Carroll and Richardson’s study, which looked at credibility specifically in relation to blogs, results showed that community affiliation with the audience in terms of a shared outlook and perceived “sameness” and identification was of particular relevance, while speaker credibility (appearance of presenter), associated with mass media, more specifically television, barely rated a mention (p. 22). Differences in perceptions of credibility according to which element of media is being consumed are no more apparent than in regular readers of blogs. Besides reliance, other predictors here are bias, transparency, interactivity, affiliation and identification. They place particular emphasis on identification and affiliation, which are closely linked. There exists “a perceived sameness”, in that the reader and the blogger share a common set of values and beliefs (Carroll and Richardson, 2011, p. 22). This challenges notions of credibility in traditional media where key indicators are expertise, accuracy, fairness and absence of bias. Readers of blogs value the in-depth coverage that they say is lacking in traditional media. Moreover, they value the interactivity and discourse that blogs allows. This provides an outlet for readers of news to contribute in the production process of the information that they are consuming. This is not to say that more conventional notions of credibility associated with traditional media are no longer relevant. However, it appears that not all of these elements apply to all media platforms. Another example of this is absence of bias, which is a key credibility predictor in newspapers but not blogs, where identity is the key predictor. Readers of blogs appreciate the personal element of the “individual voice”. As well as information and interaction they value opinions that are similar to their own.
Studies on credibility in this new media age fluctuate considerably. According to Johnson and Kaye (2009), one reason for this has been the insistence of researchers to group Internet components, such as blogs, traditional media news sites, citizen journalism news websites, and chat, into a single entity. More consistent results may be achieved if these components were “judged differently in terms of credibility” (Johnson and Kaye, 2009; p.175). Another problem may relate to predictors of credibility, which again vary according to who is being studied. For example, “Internet users in general” rate blogs as moderate to low sources of credibility because they do not follow traditional news values such as fairness, balance and objectivity. Experienced blog readers, however, rate blogs as more credible than traditional sources of media because they offer more in-depth information and perspectives. This correlates with a study cited by Carroll and Richardson (2011), which found that the “single best predictor” for assessing credibility is frequency. This standard for measuring credibility conceptions is generally referred to as the reliance principle. That is, the more frequently people use a source of information, the higher they rate its credibility (p. 21).
Nah and Chung (2012) connect notions of credibility with that of social trust, and the perceived roles of media. The core elements of social trust are defined here as the networks of individuals that facilitate co-ordination and co-operation, and collective resources of information, and social connections, and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them (p. 716). Nah and Chung cite Coleman (1988), who views social trust as being ‘a variety of different entities’ in which a certain action by individuals is facilitated by some form of social structure (Nah et al. 2012, p.716). Social trust then, arises out of the “resources of information, norms and social relations embedded in communities that enable people to co-ordinate collective action and to achieve common goals” (p. 716).
Terry Flew (2009) says that this era of citizen journalism has brought about a shift in communication practices from the “top-down, one-to-many, and closed communications practices” (p. 104) of traditional media, to a “horizontal, many-to-many, and dialogic” media culture, that is social and participatory (p. 87). This shift has lead to not only changes in the ways news and information is produced and consumed, but also an “expectation of participation”. In this new “participatory media culture” readers of news are no longer content to consume passively. They expect not only “the right to access” information in a variety of ways, but “to reuse, repurpose, modify and manipulate it” in ways that best suit their preferences (p.108). Flew argues that these “trends toward convergent… and participatory culture have brought about a “wider, broader, and deeper network of contributors”, thus inspiring a “greater degree of media democratisation” (p. 107). As Flew points out, these arguments are further developed by Henry Jenkins (2006). His notion of “participatory culture” is an environment where participants (both consumers and producers) ‘interact with one another according to a new set of rules’ and “where consumers are increasingly powerful in relation to media power, ‘but only if they recognize and use that power as both consumers and citizens, as full participants of our culture’” (p. 91).
While notions of credibility can be assessed in numerous ways depending on different formats, at the core of the notion of credibility is believability and trust. These core elements act as consistent key factors across all media platforms. Hence, in this era of digital media technologies, which has given rise to citizen journalism, credibility remains as relevant as ever. At the core is believability, which is the chief and most consistent element of credibility. What also is apparent is credibility is perceived as “a chief element of the information quality” (Carroll and Richardson, 2011, p. 20).
LIST OF REFERENCES
Brian Carroll, R. Randolph Richardson, 2011. Identification, Transparency, Interactivity; Towards a New Paradigm for Credibility for Single-Voice Blogs, 1(1), 19-35.
Kirsten Johnson, Susan Wiedenbeck, 2009. Enhancing Perceived Credibility of Citizen Journalism Websites: Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 86 (2), 332-348.
Melissa Wall, 2005. Blogs of War: Weblogs as News, Journalism, 6 (2), 153-72. Seungahn Nah, Deborah S Chung, 2012. When citizens meet both professional and citizen journalists; Social trust, media credibility, and perceived journalistic roles among online community news readers, Journalism, 13:714. DOI: 1177/1464884911431381
Terry Flew, 2009. Democracy, Participation, and Convergent Media: Case Studies in Contemporary Online News Journalism in Australia. Communications, Politics & Culture, 87-107. Thomas J. Johnson, Barbara K. Kaye, 2009. In Blog We Trust, Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 175-182.
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