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Research shows that people have difficulty forgetting inferences they make after reading a passage, even when the information that the inferences are based on is later known to be untrue. This dissertation examined the effects of these inferences on memory for political information and tested if the credibility of the source of the correction influences whether people use the correction, or continue relying on the original information when making inferences. According to source credibility theory, there are two main factors that contribute to credibility, expertise and trustworthiness. Experiment 1 examined credibility as a function of both expertise and trustworthiness. The results from this experiment showed that having a correction from a source who is high on both factors significantly decreased the use of the original information. Experiment 2 examined credibility as a function of expertise. The Experiment 2 results showed no significant decrease in participants' use of the original information, if a correction came from a source that was simply more expert (but not more trustworthy) than another source. This finding suggests that source expertise alone is not sufficient to reduce reliance on the original information. Experiment 3, which examined credibility as a function of trustworthiness, demonstrated that having a highly trustworthy source does significantly decrease the use of the original information when making inferences. This study is the first to provide direct support for the hypothesis that making the source of a correction more believable decreases use of the original discredited information when making inferences.

This study employs an experimental design to test the effects of branding,presence of opinion, and gender on news credibility. A history of credibility theory in social science research is explored in order to contextualize investigation of truth and objectivity in the contemporary fragmented news landscapes. The goal is to contribute to the academic methodologies employed in the exploration of credibility in news as well as make practical suggestions to news makers. Results of the empirical methods in this thesis showed that belief in the news organization from a pretest was positively correlated with the credibility ratings of the individual story conditions but previously held beliefs about story topic were not. Neutral stories were rated higher in terms of credibility than those with opinion statements regardless of brand or belief in the news institution. A scale for personal acceptance of opinion in news is proposed to provide credibility theorists a way to unobtrusively measure predilection for opinion news. While no differences in gender were found using the newly-proposed scale, an individual’s propensity to trust was positively correlated with acceptance of opinion in news. Audience specialization in news should lead to specialized studies of credibility, particularly the roles of gender information processing in relation to objectivity, opinion, and credibility. / text

Breaking news implies that something urgent, important and newsworthy happened, assuming that viewers will be more curious about this event. As the mass media have continued to develop, the form of breaking news also keeps on changing. Today, the internet plays a primary role as a platform of breaking news. With online news services providing a plethora of real-time breaking news to audiences, there is a concern that online breaking news has little news value. Some scholars warned that the increase in the number of breaking news would finally impoverish the quality of journalism. Thus, this study tried to ascertain the credibility of online breaking news. This study conducted a 2 (news with/without breaking label) ⅹ 2 (high and low news value) factorial-designed experiment. The result of the experiment suggested that neither breaking news label nor newsworthiness would not increase or decrease the credibility rating. It would be possible to assume that there was no effect of such two components because audiences have already grown accustomed to the prevalence of the label breaking news and continual update of the headline of online news. Journalists might arbitrarily label specific news as breaking news, but they would keep in mind that calling something “breaking news” neither helps nor hurts. / text

Problematisation: Credible information on social media affects potential tourists when chosing where they will travel. Thus, the competition for the attention of potential tourists makes the credibility aspect important to explore further. Perceived credibility in social media online could be more questioned than offline sources since user generated Websites usually do not go through a review. Additionally, the understanding of online credibility is still limited, when it comes to UGC. There has not been much research emphasising the perceived credibility on user generated content. Furthermore, there seems to be a disagreement about perceived credibility existing in social media, which makes it an interesting topic. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate which dimensions are positively influencing perceived credibility online and if the information on TripAdvisor was seen as credible. The purpose is also to explore if there is a relationship between perceived credibility and the dimensions user generated content, authority, communication, updates and design. The purpose of this dissertation is also to add knowledge about how potential tourists perceive credibility when they view a Website designed for tourists. Methodology: This study used a paper-based questionnaire, answered by students at Kristianstad University. Limitations: This dissertation has two main limitations. Firstly, it only examines one social media, TripAdvisor. Secondly, participants in the sample were only chosen from Kristianstad University and under certain circumstances, which made the sample limited. Conclusion: The result showed that there was a positive relationship between user-generated content, authority, communication, updates and design and perceived credibility. However, the dimension advertisement was rejected. Thus, five of six hypotheses were not rejected and had a statistical significance (P= < 0.01). Only hypothesis four, advertisements, did not have statistical significance and was rejected. The total perceived credibility for TripAdvisor’s Website, in this dissertation, was that it was seen as fairly credible.

Anyone can upload news instantaneously to Twitter in 140-characters or less, therefore it is important to assess the credibility of tweets, particularly during a foodborne illness outbreak. According to a Microsoft study there are numerous Twitter features that impact the credibility of tweets. This study examines students’ use of Twitter, and their perceptions of how features and sources impact the credibility of tweets related to a foodborne illness. An online survey was completed by Texas A&M University students classified as U3 juniors (N = 200) in social science-based majors in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The study revealed students to be moderate users of Twitter. Eight features were identified to impact credibility: verified author topic expertise, account has verification seal, tweet contains grammar/punctuation mistakes, author is someone you’ve heard of, author is often mentioned/retweeted, author often tweets on topic, and author has many followers. Three Twitter identities a professor, student, and student organization, were created to measure tweet credibility. Tweets from the professor were perceived more credible than tweets attributed to student or student organization. The results indicated statistical differences between features attributed to each source. These findings can help sources determine what features can make tweets the most credible. This study has important implications for organizations that engage consumers on Twitter when breaking news such as a foodborne illness outbreak occurs.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 101-106) Also available in print.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Louise Benjamin / The video news release (VNR) has been a source of controversy since its first inclusion into newscasts in the early 1980s. This third-party (not produced by a news station) public relations and marketing-friendly content, when included alongside normally produced news stories, can make it difficult for the public to discern what is news and what is not. Problems specifically arise when news operations fail to disclose to their audience the source or provider of VNR content, and prevent news consumers from evaluating the legitimacy or intent of a VNR. A 4 (source disclosure cue: audio, video, combination of the two, and none) x 2 (source agent type: biased or neutral) experiment was implemented within this study to better understand audience evaluations, post exposure to a source disclosure cue, of the credibility of a news operation that implements VNRs within their broadcast. Disclosure cues were also evaluated for their effectiveness in raising awareness to the persuasive aspects of a VNR, and the impact of differing source agent types on participants' credibility assessment of a news operation. Results demonstrated 75% of participants (n=238) failed to correctly identify the source of the VNR when a disclosure cue was given. However, the audio and video combination condition was found to instigate the most awareness to the use of VNR. Overall, disclosure of a VNR's source could not be linked to changes in participants' evaluation of a news operation's credibility, with results demonstrating uniformly average means throughout. In addition, source disclosure could not be associated to a change in participants' awareness to the persuasive context of the VNR, with similar means exhibited. Because of the lack of an overall effect concerning credibility or knowledge of persuasive content within the study, greater media transparency is needed as are more media literacy opportunities for the public to best understand and navigate today’s complicated broadcast media reality.

Purpose: There is growing interest in the clinical application of mindfulness meditation. However, little is known about the extent to which clients prefer mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) over conventional psychological therapies. The present study examined predictors of treatment preference and credibility in individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) who participated in a randomized trial of a mindfulness intervention adapted for SAD (MBI-SAD) versus a conventional psychological therapy (cognitive behavior group therapy; CBGT). Method: The sample included 97 adults who met DSM-5 criteria for SAD. Binary logistic and multiple linear regressions were conducted to examine baseline sociodemographic and clinical predictors of treatment preference for the MBI-SAD and perception of treatment credibility. Analysis of variance was used to compare levels of trait mindfulness across treatment preference groups. Results: The majority of participants (49%) reported a preference for the MBI-SAD. Ratings of treatment credibility were comparable for the two interventions. Employment status significantly predicted preference for CBGT versus the MBI-SAD, whereas younger age predicted preference for CBGT. Higher household income, a history of psychotherapy, elevated scores on clinician ratings of depression and social anxiety, and lower scores on self-report depression predicted no treatment preference. Higher household income predicted greater perceived credibility of treatment. Trait mindfulness did not differ across the treatment preference groups or predict treatment credibility. Discussion: Mindfulness meditation appears to be an acceptable and credible treatment for SAD. However, few baseline demographic and clinical characteristics predicted preference for the MBI-SAD. Additional research is needed to explore factors that shape preference and beliefs about mind-body interventions.

The aim of this thesis is an analysis of the development and changes in the relationship of political and economic independence and accountability of central banks on the example of CNB and FED. I use the method of comparative analysis of the qualitative characteristics of central banks. The theoretical and methodological part is focused on the historical evolution of central banking, as well as on the relationship between central bank independence and its accountability, credibility and transparency. The next section is devoted to analyzing the benefits and the risks of an independent status. The largest chapter deals with the ways of measuring the legal and the actual independence of central banks, the calculation of legal independence from the selected indices are applied to the CNB. Finally I make an evaluation of degree of independence of the CNB and FED and I try to explain what degree of independence and accountability is optimal.