Interacting is believing? Examining bottom-Up credibility of blogs among politically interested Internet users

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Interacting is believing? Examining bottom-Upcredibility of blogs among politically interestedInternet users

Daekyung Kim

Department of Mass Communication, Idaho State University, USA

This study examines how politically interested Internet users perceive blogs as a credible source ofnews and information. More specifically, this study aims to identify a new possible factor that hasa moderating impact on blog credibility assessment in the collaborative nature of digital mediacircumstances. This study found that blog credibility was predicted by the interaction between blogreliance and online news activity, indicating that those who more actively interact with news andwith other users judge blogs as more credible than those who do less so. Implications of the findingswere discussed for future research.

Key words: Political Blogs, Bottom-Up Credibility, Politically Interested Internet Users, Interactivity,Online Activity.

doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01583.x

As more people are getting online to obtain news and information, the means by which people assessinformation they find on the Internet drew a great deal of attention from media researchers (Metzger,Flanagin, Eyal, Lemus, & McCann, 2003). There is little doubt that the Internet has become an importantsource of news and information. The 2008 Digital Future Report found that 80% of Internet adult usersconsidered the Internet to be a more important source of information than television (68%), radio(63%), and newspapers (63%) (Center for the Digital Future, 2008). However, the World InternetProject in 2009 also reported that a large majority of Internet users around the world said that only halfor less of the information they found was reliable (Center for the Digital Future, 2009).

Many studies have therefore examined to understand how people judge online news sourcescompared to traditional ones as well as investigating possible factors that influence credibility on theInternet as a new channel of information delivery. However, past studies have produced mixed resultsabout the Internet as a credible source of news and information (Johnson & Kaye, 2009). Further,relatively little attention has been paid to exploring new factors influencing online media credibility,which should differ from traditional media counterparts. The present study is an extension of onlinecredibility studies by Johnson and Kaye (1998; 2000) designed to examine the impact of interactivityon online information credibility.

In recent years, blogs have drawn considerable attention from media scholars and practitioners alikeas a new channel to deliver information as well as a new form of journalism on the Internet (Matheson,2004). More specifically, blogs emerged as a major source for political information during the 2004 and

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2008 U.S. presidential elections (Graf & Darr, 2004; Smith, 2009). Indeed, many online political usersobtained campaign news from alternative news sources, including political issue-oriented Web sitesand blogs (Rainie, Cornfield, & Horrigan, 2005; Smith, 2009).

Amid the growing popularity of the use of blogs for political information, this exploratory studyspecifically examines the degree to which politically interested Internet users perceive blogs as believable,fair, accurate, and in-depth. In addition, this study aims to find a new factor, the interactive activityof online users, which may play a moderating role in blog credibility assessment, based on findings ofan online survey. By doing so, it is hoped that this study makes contributions to understanding howpeople assess and evaluate news and information differently in the age of digital media.

Literature review: Online media credibilitySince the advent of the Internet as a new channel of news and information production and deliveryin the mid-1990s, many scholars over the last decade have grappled with examining credibility of theInternet and its components compared with traditional media (Metzger et al., 2003) and found ‘wildfluctuations’ in how people assessed the Internet as credible, depending on how Internet credibility wasmeasured (Johnson & Kaye, 2009). For example, Flanagin and Metzger (2000) found that the Internetwas as credible as television, radio, and magazines, but not as credible as newspapers, while other studiesrevealed that online news media were found to be more credible than traditional print and broadcastmedia (Johnson & Kaye, 1998, 2000).

Recently, blogs have drawn great interest from media scholars as an influential source for news andinformation (Johnson & Kaye, 2004b, 2006; Johnson, Kaye, Bichard, & Wong, 2008; Matheson, 2004;Trammell & Keshelashvili, 2005). In particular, some researchers investigated how credible peopleperceived blogs to be in comparison with traditional media. Banning and Sweetser (2007) found nosignificant difference between traditional media and blogs in credibility and concluded ‘‘blogs achieveda credibility standing in line with traditional media’’ (p. 462).

Further, other researchers found that Internet users viewed blogs as more credible than traditionalnews media (Johnson & Kaye, 2006, 2004b; Johnson et al., 2008). Blog users are more attracted toin-depth information and perspectives not covered by traditional news media. Blogs may be rated ascredible because users view blogs as being independent from traditional big and cooperated-controlledmedia (Andrews, 2003; Singer, 2006). In other words, people may judge blogs as credible sourcesbecause the open network of the blogosphere can allow for more open and in-depth discussion withdifferent perspectives than the traditional news media (Bruns, 2006; Lasica, 2002).

Those mixed findings about the credibility of the Internet and other online components as a newsource of news and information call for investigating new potential factors that may either mediateor moderate people’s credibility assessment across messages and sources on the Internet (Kaid &Postelnicu, 2007). Despite the intensive research, most of the past credibility studies on the Internetdid not provide a strong argument for why people assess online information as more (or less) credible.Accordingly, this study pays special attention to the unique nature of the blogosphere that makes itpossible for users to actively participate and engage in the process of information production anddistribution, which may in turn lead to an increased degree of blog credibility in newly emerginginformation and communication circumstances.

Participatory Journalism and Bottom-Up CredibilityIt is quite obvious that traditional media and journalism are undergoing a revolutionary changebecause of the Internet and related information and communication technologies. Such interactivedigital technologies empower ordinary people who were once considered passive audiences and make it

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 17 (2012) 422–435 © 2012 International Communication Association 423

possible for them to be active participants and collaborators in the process of production, distribution,and consumption of news and information (Bowman & Willis, 2003; Deuze, Bruns, & Neuberger,2007). Thus, the advance of digital technology not only redefines journalism in the digital age but italso transforms the practices and ethics of traditional journalism (Niles, 2009; Pavlik, 2000).

Traditional media and reporters are no longer the only single entity producing and delivering newsand information in particular on the Internet’s online world. For example, citizen-based participatoryjournalism provides a big challenge to traditional news business in that it requires traditional media toview audiences as partners and collaborators (Bowman & Willis, 2003; Gillmor, 2004). The significanceof citizen-produced blogs is more important in terms of their capacity for independent and alternativenews reporting. Gillmor (2004) contended that in contrast with mainstream big media’s centralizedand top-down approach to news reporting, blogs can offer a decentralized and bottom-up approachthrough linking to and commentary from a wide range of different sources. Thus, blogs were in someways viewed as a new form of journalism, which provides an open platform yet is not strictly confined bypractices and standards of traditional journalism (Bowman & Willis, 2003; Bruns, 2006; Lasica, 2002).

Defined as ‘‘the act of a citizen, or group of citizens, playing an active role in the process ofcollecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information’’ (Bowman & Willis, 2003, p.9), participatory journalism is primarily characterized by a bottom-up process and collaborative naturein the process of news gathering, selecting, and producing on the Internet (Deuze et al., 2007). Thenetworked and collaborative nature of online journalism calls for a rethinking of how people perceivenews and information as reliable and credible.

It is of particular importance to understand how people assess or perceive information in today’shighly competitive information market because people would not rely on the media that they do notbelieve as credible (Johnson & Kaye, 1998; Metzger et al., 2003). Thus, it is more likely that a credibilityissue is a matter of how to survive in a new digital media environment where users can hold morepower and choice in news selection. Gillmor (2004) pointed out that given the growing concern aboutthe distrust in traditional media, objective journalism cannot solve the problem without creating a newreputation system.

Traditional media have already begun capitalizing on the initiatives of the digital media landscape,allowing users to participate in the journalistic process. For example, the New York Times (2005) in aninternal committee report recommended reporters to actively interact with their audiences to increasecredibility through a number of online interactive tools such as e-mail, blogs, and so on. According toa recent report, reporters in 92 of top 100 newspaper Web sites have their own blogs and allow readersto post comments on their blogs (The Bivings Group, 2008).

In traditional mass media, trust can be built in a top-down way because people rely mainly uponsources or messages of big media organizations. However, the credibility of news in participatory formsof journalism can be assessed through a bottom-up process, meaning that trust is built through linksand interaction with peers. (Bowman & Willis, 2003).

Pavlik (2000) argued that advances in digital technology created a new relationship betweeninformation sources and receivers, so that credibility of news media should be re-established. Becauseof the lack of gatekeeping on the Internet, it is more likely that ordinary people get involved in theprocess of credibility verification. As Bowman and Willis (2003) pointed out, how people perceive andassess information as reliable, credible, and trustworthy should be redefined in a way in which they playa more important role in the collaborative process of information production and distribution.

Therefore, some researchers have become interested in how the interactive nature of the Internettechnology was related to how people perceive online media. For example, Chung (2008) examinedto what extent online users utilized interactive features provided by online newspapers and found thatperceived credibility of online news was significantly associated with use of such interactive features.


Based on the findings, the study suggested that ‘‘online newspapers may seek to educate their onlineaudiences about how to use various interactive features on their sites and also make efforts to buildtheir reputation for credible news’’ (p. 674).

As mentioned above, this study aims to examine how people assess political blogs and if perceivedcredibility is related to the ways in which they interact with news and other users in the digital medialandscape. The assumption of this study is that the more interaction with news and other users, thehigher people evaluate online information as credible. In other words, active audience participation inthe process of information production and distribution may have a positive impact on their perceptiontoward information sources, which would offer more insights into how people perceive and evaluateinformation online (Kim & Johnson, 2009). Thus, the following research question is posed:

RQ1: To what extent do politically interested Internet users judge blogs to be credible sources ofnews and information?

Factors Affecting Credibility of Political BlogsIn general, findings of past credibility studies suggest that media experiences have impacts on howcredible people judge information they find from the media to be, because more experienced users arebetter able to determine the quality and reliability of information (Flanagin & Metzger, 2000; Rimmer& Weaver, 1987). For example, Flanagin and Metzger (2000) found that Internet experiences, such asInternet use and access, expertise and familiarity, predicted online credibility. Johnson and Kaye (1998;2000) also found that reliance on online media was a strong predictor of credibility of online sources.Reliance on blogs was a strong predictor of blog credibility (Johnson & Kaye, 2009; Johnson et al., 2008).

Given that online users are more politically interested and active, but have a low level of trust ingovernment, Johnson and Kaye (1998, 2000) found a weak relationship between political attitudes andonline credibility. However, the political variables became stronger predictors as Internet users becamemore politically mainstream. Indeed, political interest was related to credibility of online sources,indicating that those interested in politics may view online information as credible because they canaccess a wider variety of information sources online than traditional media (Johnson & Kaye, 2000).

Individual motivations for using media also played an important role in predicting perceptions ofonline credibility. Johnson and associates (2008) found that motivations predicted blog credibility evenafter controlling for demographics and political variables. Further, they found that information-seekingmotives for accessing blogs were more predictive of blog credibility than entertainment motives.

Understanding the collaborative nature of the blogosphere, this study aims to explore a new possiblefactor that influences blog credibility assessment because as Wathen and Burkell (2002) said, it is criticalto understand how new communication media can introduce new factors into credibility assessment.Banning and Sweetser (2007) argued that despite some studies’ findings blogs as more credible thantraditional sources (e.g., Johnson & Kaye, 2004a; Johnson et al., 2008), a more systematic study shouldbe conducted in a way that different elements of media types may determine credibility. They concludedthat individuals’ perceptions of credibility may be contingent upon the different elements of media types.

In short, the networked, collaborative nature of online news environments can make it possible forpeople to engage in a multitude of activities in pursuit of news and information. Thus, this study is basedon the notion that credibility of blogs can be built in a bottom-up way in which individuals’ onlineactivities have an influence on their credibility judgments of blogs. More specifically, this study attemptsto extend Johnson and Kaye’s studies (1998; 2000) by introducing interactivity as a new variable in thestudy of credibility of online sources. Thus, the present study advances the following two hypotheses:


H1: Reliance on blogs will significantly predict perceived credibility of blogs after controlling fordemographics, political variables, and Internet use.

H2: The impact of blog reliance on credibility of blogs will be moderated by online activity.

Method

Data CollectionThe data analysis was based on an online survey of 338 politically interested Internet users fromNovember 15, 2005 to February 28, 2006. To recruit politically interested Internet users with variouspolitical viewpoints, notices of the survey were posted on a wide range of Web sites such as portalnews sites, political blogs, online political groups, politically oriented newsgroups, and political chat ordiscussion rooms maintained by three major portals such as Yahoo!, MSN, and Google (See Appendix).

In addition, announcements of the online survey were posted on 26 political blogs including 13conservative leaning and 13 liberal leaning blogs, which were adapted from top 40 political blogs of apast political blog study (Adamic & Glance, 2005). The top 40 political blogs were selected on the basisof page link counts obtained from BlogPluse’s index (www.blogpulse.com/search). Survey responseswere returned as data files, containing the date and time of receipt as well as the respondents’ Internetserver and e-mail addresses, which were all used to remove duplicate responses.

Variable Measurements

Blog use and credibilityFirst, respondents were asked to report how much they rely on blogs for political news and informationon a 5-point scale ranging from 5 (heavily rely) to 1 (do not rely at all). Credibility as a multidimensionalconstruct was drawn from past studies (Johnson & Kaye, 1998; 2000). Respondents were asked to ratethe degree of believability, fairness, accuracy, and in-depthness of blogs based on a 5-point scale rangingfrom 1 (not at all) to 5 (very). Scores for the four measures of credibility were combined into a credibilityindex for political blogs. (Cronbach’s alpha = .869).

Political attitudesIn order to measure political attitudes, this study employed political involvement, political interest,trust in the government, political efficacy, and strength of party affiliation (Johnson & Kaye, 1998;2000). Respondents were asked to report the degree to which they had become involved in politics sincefirst accessing the Internet on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (greatly decreased) to 5 (greatly increased).Respondents were also asked to indicate their level of political interest on a 10-point scale where 1 was‘‘the lowest level’’ and 10 was ‘‘the highest level.’’

As for trust in the government, respondents were asked to indicate their agreement on threestatements on a 5-point scale from ‘‘strongly disagree (1)’’ to ‘‘strongly agree (5)’’: (1) Most of ourleaders are devoted to the service of our country, (2) Politicians never tell us what they really think, and(3) I do not think public officials care much about what people like me think (Cronbach’s alpha = .779).Similarly, three statements were used to measure political self-efficacy: (1) People like me do not haveany say about what the government does, (2) Every vote counts in an election, including yours andmine, (3) Sometimes politics and government seem so complicated that a person like me cannot reallyunderstand what is going on (Cronbach’s alpha = .409). Respondents were asked to indicate the degreeof their agreement on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 ‘‘strongly disagree’’ to 5 ‘‘strongly agree’’ (Johnson& Kaye, 2000, 2009).


Participants were also asked to report whether they consider themselves a ‘‘strong Democrat,’’ ‘‘leantoward Democrat,’’ ‘‘independent,’’ ‘‘strong Republican,’’ ‘‘lean toward Republican,’’ or ‘‘other.’’ Theresponses were then recoded into ‘‘strong partisan’’ (strong Democrat and strong Republican combined),‘‘weak partisan’’ (weak Democrat and weak Republican combined), ‘‘independent,’’ and ‘‘other.’’

Internet useAs for Internet use, respondents were asked to report the number of years they have been online andthe amount of time spend per week with the Internet in general. Then, respondents were asked howmuch time per week on average they spent on the Internet to get news with an open-ended question.

Online activitiesOnline activities were measured by asking how respondents interact with news content and otherusers while surfing the Internet for news. The use of interactive components of online news is dividedinto content and interpersonal interactivities. Content interactivity can be defined as the interactiveactivities of online users to have control over delivery, selection, and presentation of online news, whileinterpersonal interactivity is person-to-person communications mediated by interactive applicants inboth synchronous and asynchronous ways (Bucy, 2004).

In this study, the interactive use of online news was measured through an 11-item additive indexof online poll, hyperlinks, archives, newsgathering programs (RSS), subscribing to e-mail newsletters,using personalized news service (e.g., My Yahoo!), download of multimedia news (content interactivity),e-mailing news to friends or family, responding to reporters or editors, engaging in discussion or chatrooms, posting on bulletin boards or Weblogs (interpersonal activity). Respondents were asked toindicate how often they used those interactive components while reading or viewing online news, basedon a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (very often). The score of each item was combined intoan interactive index of online activity (Cronbach’s alpha = .771).

DemographicsTraditional measures of demographic variables were measured in this study. Respondents were askedto report gender, age, household income, and education level.

Data AnalysisFrequency analysis first was used for all independent variables such as demographics, political attitudes,Internet news use, online activities, and reliance on blogs. Hierarchical regressions were used to examineif the independent variables predicted credibility of blogs. The predictors were entered as a block. First,demographics were entered, followed by political attitudes and Internet use variables. Blog reliance wasentered as a fourth block, followed by online activities. Finally, interaction between blog reliance andonline activities was entered.

Results

Respondent ProfileOf 338 respondents who completed the online survey, almost seven in 10 (68.6%) are males and anaverage age is 44 years old (SD = 12.5). More than nine in 10 (96.1%) have some college education, acollege degree or higher. A large majority of the respondents (87.0%) are white and more than 6 in 10(63.3%) report a middle or high level of household income. On average they have used the Internet for


Table 1 Interactive Use of Online News

M (SD)

Content InteractivityClicking on hyperlinked news articles 4.08 (.76)Searching for archives 3.53 (.95)Participating in online polls 3.07 (.95)Download sound or video news files 2.80 (1.16)Using personalized news 2.38 (1.33)Subscribing to email newsletters 2.35 (1.34)Using newsgathering programs 2.23 (1.35)Subtotal 2.92 (.68)

Interpersonal InteractivityPosting on bulletin board or Weblogs 3.45 (1.33)Emailing news to friends or family 3.15 (1.25)Engaging in discussion or chat rooms 3.10 (1.38)Responding to reporters or editors 2.61 (1.15)Subtotal 3.08 (.91)

Total 2.98 (.66)

more than 9 years, spending an average of 27 hours and 47 minutes a week with online news and 14hours, 4 minutes a week spent with online political news.

A majority of the respondents (76.9%) report an increase in political involvement since firstaccessing the Internet, and more 96.1% of them are interested or very interested in politics. Whilealmost three quarters (74.0%) of the respondents show low to moderate levels of trust in the government,85.6% of them claim moderate to high levels of political efficacy.

Interactive Use of Online NewsTable 1 shows that politically interested Internet users are involved with various interactive componentswhile surfing online news. They use interpersonal components of online news (M = 3.08) more oftenthan content components of online news (M = 2.92). They most often used hyperlinked news foradditional information (M = 4.08), followed by archives (M = 3.53) and participation in online polls(M = 3.07) from content components of online news. Of the interpersonal components, respondentsmost often use bulletin boards or blogs to post their opinions (M = 3.45), followed by emailing newsto friends or family (M = 3.15).

Blogs Use and CredibilityThe research question asked how credible politically interested Internet users perceived political blogs tobe. It was found that more than seven in 10 respondents in this study (74.3%) report that they rely or relyheavily on blogs for political news and information (M = 3.88, SD = 1.20). The score of combined indexof blog credibility is 3.74 based on a 5-point scale. As shown in Table 2, a greater percentage of respondentsrate blogs as credible because of in-depthness rather than believability, fairness, and accuracy.

Predictors of Credibility for BlogsThe first hypothesis in this study asked if reliance on blogs has an impact on credibility of blogs. AsTable 3 shows, political involvement was a significant predictor of blog credibility (β = .14, p < .01), and


Table 2 Perceptions of Credibility of Blogs

Blog Credibility (N = 338) Believability Fairness Accuracy In-depth

3.73 3.38 3.68 4.18Not at all/not very 6.2% 16.6% 6.5% 4.7%Somewhat 34.6% 31.4% 38.5% 17.8%Moderately/very 57.3% 45.8% 52.9% 75.1%

Index of blog credibility = 3.74 (SD = .83)

none of the Internet use variables was significant. Consistent with the past studies, reliance on blogs hasa significant relationship with credibility (β = .35, p < .001), even after controlling for demographics,political variables, and Internet use. Therefore, H1 was supported. However, there was no main effectof online activity on blog credibility.

The second hypothesis addressed whether the effect of blog reliance on blog credibility is moderatedby online activities. That is, it was hypothesized that politically interested Internet users who are moreactively interacting with blog content and with other users are more likely to evaluate blogs as crediblesources. Table 3 shows that there is a significant relationship between the interaction terms and blogcredibility (β = .23, p < .001), indicating that blogs users with a higher level of online activities aremore likely to perceive information in the blogosphere as more credible than those with a lower levelof online activities. H2 therefore was also supported.

Discussion and Conclusions

With the increasing use of the Internet for news and information, it is becoming more important tounderstand how people perceive and evaluate information on the Internet (Johnson & Kaye, 2000;Metzger et al., 2003). Recently, blogs drew considerable interest from media researchers as one of theimportant sources of political news and information (Johnson et al., 2008; Matheson, 2004; Trammell& Keshelashvili, 2005). This study therefore examined how credible politically interested Internet usersperceive blogs as a new source of news and information.

More specifically, this exploratory study attempts to identify a new possible factor that has amoderating impact on blog credibility assessment under the newly evolving nature of online medialandscape. Under the networked, collaborative nature of online journalism in which audience membersbecome active partners and collaborators in the process of news production and distribution, a newreputation system can be established in a bottom-up process (Bowman & Willis, 2003; Gillmor, 2004;Pavlik, 2000). Thus, it was hypothesized in this study that individuals who are interacting more withnews content and other users through various interactive features on the Internet are more likely toperceive online information as credible.

First, this study found that politically interested Internet users judge blogs as moderately credible,scoring 3.74 out of a 5-point scale. The finding is similar to that of the past studies that found blogsas a credible source of news and information (Johnson & Kaye, 2004b, 2009; Johnson et al., 2008).To be more specific, respondents in this study perceived political blogs as credible because politicalblogs provided more in-depth information than fair or accurate information, which may reflect theindependent and alternative nature of blogs (Bruns, 2006; Johnson & Kaye, 2006; Singer, 2006). Thefinding also indicates that online users look forward to more in-depth commentary or analysis fromblogs as a credible source rather than fairness or accuracy, which are two fundamental criteria in judgingcredible news via traditional news media.


Table 3 Hierarchical Regression of Predicting Blog Credibility (Blog Reliance x Online Activity)

Before Beta Entry Final Beta

Age .03Gender −.01Education −.10Income .06Incremental R2 (%) 1.0Predispositions (6)Political Interest .02 .07Political Involvement .13* .14**

Party Strength .09 .10Trust in Government .03 .02Political Efficacy −.15* −.12Incremental R2 (%) 6.2**

Internet Use (3)Years on the Internet −.07 −.08Internet Use Time −.01 .02Internet Political News Use Time .00 −.01Incremental R2 (%) .8Blog Reliance (1)Blog Reliance .35*** .35***

Incremental R2 (%) 10.8***

Online Activities (1)Online Activities −.07 −.10Incremental R2 (%) .4Interaction (1)Blog Reliance x Online Activities .23***

Incremental R2 (%) 5.0***

Total R2 (%) 24.3

Note: ** p<.01 * p<.05

Second, this study found a weak relationship between political attitudes and blog credibility.Political involvement only had the impact on blog credibility assessment. Those who have becomemore involved in politics since first using the Internet tend to judge blogs as more credible. Consistentwith the findings of past studies (Johnson & Kaye, 2006, 2009), reliance on blogs appeared to a strongpredictor of credibility of blogs even after controlling for demographics, political variables, and Internetuse. Individual experience of certain media is closely associated with the degree to which they perceivethe media content as reliable (Rimmer & Weaver, 1987).

The most important finding of this study, as hypothesized, is that interaction between blog relianceand online activity had a significant impact on blog credibility assessment. That is, those who moreactively interact with news and with other users tend to judge blogs as more credible than those who doless so. In the traditional model of mass communication, news audiences turned to sources or messagesto judge the quality or reliability of information. However, credibility can be shaped by users’ activitiesto interact with various news content and other users under the networked, collaborative nature ofonline journalism (Bowman & Willis, 2003; Gillmor, 2004).


Past studies have found that reliance and motivation were two important variables that determinedhow people perceive information they found on media (Flanagin & Metzger, 2000; Johnson & Kaye,1998, 2000; Johnson et al, 2008). However, relatively little attention has been paid to identifying a newvariable that can give a more insightful understanding of how people perceive and assess information inthe age of digital media. The finding of this study shows that interactivity can be an important variablein the study of online source credibility.

This study makes a couple of important contributions to the current understanding of the changingnature of relationships between information sources and audiences. Today, blogs emerged as a powerfultool for traditional media or reporters to provide in-depth context and analysis of news stories. Eventhough the immediate and unfiltered nature of blogs does not fit into established journalistic normsand practices, blogs can offer a new opportunity to traditional journalism as to how to build a newrelationship and enhance it with audiences in the newly emerging digital media circumstance (Lasica,2003; Singer, 2006).

Traditional news media need to figure out a new economic model of online journalism, given thatpublic trust in press performance has gradually declined over the past decade. The findings of this studyindicate that traditional journalism should be redefined in a way that can create an interactive, collabo-rative partnership with audiences. That is, news organizations and reporters should take more advantageof the initiatives of various digital tools (e.g., blogs, social bookmarking sites, story rating systems andso on) to rebuild public trust (Chung, 2008; The Bivings Group, 2008; New York Times, 2005).

The findings of this study make us rethink the role of journalists in participatory and collaborativejournalism. News is no longer a lecture style, but should be a dialogue or conversation with audiences(Gillmor, 2004). Blogs (or blogging) offer a new form of journalism and can be a forum where real-timenews gathering and discussion occur between information sources and receivers (Bowman & Willis,2003; Lasica, 2002). Kovach and Rosenstiel (2001) wrote, ‘‘in an era when anyone can be a reporteror commentator on the Web, ‘you move to a two-way journalism.’ The journalist becomes a ‘forumleader,’ or a mediator rather than simply a teacher or lecture’’ (p. 24). Therefore, to rebuild publictrust, the news organization and journalist online needs to be ‘a forum leader’ in the process of newsproduction and distribution and recognize the growing power of audiences, which will lead to a newer,more dynamic relationship with audiences in the new media ecosystem.

This study has some limitations. The first limitation of this study comes from the nature of datacollected from a purposive sample of politically interested Internet users. So, it is hard to claim thegeneralization of this study’s findings to the whole population. In spite of the significant finding aboutthe impact of interactivity on credibility perception, future study should be conducted with a larger andrandom sample size to better understand the influence of interactivity on credibility.

Given that interactivity is one of the unique aspects of Internet media, future research shouldconsider interactivity an important factor in the study of online source credibility. A comparative studybetween a high and low level of an interactivity should be also considered for future research in orderto examine the effect of interactive use of online media on credibility of online content. Despite theselimitations, this study gives some insights into understanding how online users access and verify infor-mation they find on the Internet, which will help to create a more effective user interface in online newsWeb sites.

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About the Author

Daekyung Kim (Ph. D., Southern Illinois University Carbondale) is an Associate Professor in theJames E. Rogers Department of Mass Communication at Idaho State University. His research areasinclude interactive effects of digital media, political communication and international media system.His articles have appeared in Asian Journal of Communication, The International CommunicationGazette, Web Journal of Mass Communication Research, Telematics and Informatics, and Atlantic Journalof Communication.1. Address: 921 S. 8th Ave., Stop 8242 Department of Mass Communication, IdahoState University, Pocatello, ID 83209. USA.2. Email: [email protected]


Appendix

Table A1 A List of 82 Websites

Portals (3) MSN (http://www.msn.com)Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com)Google (http://www.google.com)

Online PoliticalGroups (28)

Democratic Groups (7) Republican Groups (8)

Democrats for 2006 Conservative Principle&Activism

Democratic News Group Christian RepublicansImpeach George W. Bush Black ConservativesBush Be Gone Conservative Coffee HouseAnti Bush Database The Republican ClubThe Democrats Won Conservative AmericansDemocrats United Republicans

The Conservative ParlorRepublican Groups (8) Independent Groups (8)Conservative Principle &Activism Progressive TalkChristian Republicans Red Pepper DebateBlack Conservatives We The People CoalitionConservative Coffee House Virtual USAThe Republican Club The Decorum ForumConservative Americans People’s PoliticsUnited Republicans All about Politics & NewsThe Conservative Parlor American Dialogue

Newsgroups (19) alt.society.liberalism alt.politics.gw-bushalt.society.conservatism alt.politics.kerryalt.society.civil-liberty alt.politics.mediaalt.politics alt.politics.nationalismalt.politics.bush alt.politics.usaalt.politics.clinton alt.politics.usaalt.politics.conservative alt.politics.usaalt.politics.correct talk.politicsalt.politics.democrat talk.politics.libertarianalt.politics.elections soc.politicstalk.politics.misc

Chats &Forums (6)

Chatmag Chat Forum (http://chatmag.com)4 Lane.com: Political Chat

(htpp://www.4-lane.com/politicalchat)Bush Country Forum

(http://www.rightvoices.com)US Politics Online Forum

(http://www.uspoliticsonline.com)Liberty News Forum

(http://www.libertynewsforum.com)


Table A1 Continued

The Conservative Voice Forum(http://www.theconservativevoice.com/forum/

Political Top 13 Conservative Blogs Top 13 Liberal BlogsWeblogs (26) http://www.blogforbush http://www.democratis.org/blog

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt http://www.dailykos.comhttp://www.wizbangblog.com http://astrios.blogspot.comhttp://www.indcjornal.com http://www.washingtonmonthly.comhttp://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com http://yglesias.typepad.com/matthewhttp://www.allahpundit.com http://www.crookedtimber.orghttp://volokh.com http://www.mydd.comhttp://timblair.net http://www.oliverwillis.comhttp://www.windsofchange.net http://www.pandagon.nethttp://www.vodkapundit.com http://www.talkleft.comhttp://www.rogerlsimon.com http://digbysblog.blogspot.comhttp://mypetjawa.mu.nu http://www.politicalwire.comhttp://rightwingnews.com http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/

movable_type


Documents

Interacting is believing? Examining bottom-Up credibility of blogs among politically interested Internet users