WAG THE BLOG: HOW RELIANCE

ON TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET

INFLUENCE CREDIBILITY PERCEPTIONS

OT WEBLOGS AMONG BLOG USERS

By Thomas J. Johnson and Barbara K. Kaye

This study suweyed Weblog users online to investigate how credible theyviezi' blogs as compared to traditional media as weil as other onlinesources. This study also explores the degree to which reliance on Weblogsas well as traditional and online media sources predicts credibility ofWeblogs after controlling for demographic aud political factors. Weblogusers judged blogs as highly credible—more credible thau traditionalsources. They did, however, rate traditional sources as moderatelycredible. Weblog users rated blogs higher on depth of information thanthey did 0)i fairness.

While the debate over whether the Internet as a whole should bejudged as a credible source of news and information has ebbed as moreusers have tlocked to news sites sponsored by traditional media, thequestion remains of how much faith users should place in certain onlinecomponents such as Weblogs (also known as blogs). Webiogs, diary-style Websites that generaily offer observations and news listed chrono-logically on the site as weil as commentary and recommended links,'surged in popularity after the events of 9/11,-

Bloggers (those who create blogs)^ and traditional journalists"'argue over how much faith to piace in messages posted on the blogosphere(the blogging universe). But while several studies have examinedcredibility of online media, scholars have paid little attention to howcredible users judge Weblogs. Metzger, Flanagin, Eyai, Lemiis, andMcCann argue tha t one weakness of online credibility studies is that theyexamine oi"ily the Web and ignore other Internet components.^

Alternative sources of news and information, such as Weblogs,have been ignored. However, their credibility deserves attention forseveral reasons: First, they are a growing phenomenon, increasing froman estimated 30,000 in 1998 to at least three million by the beginning of2004.''' Second, while the number of blog users is small (only 17% ofInternet users have ever visited a blog),'' their influence may exceed theirreadership. Because many blog users are potiticatty interested andactive, they are wooed by tech-savvy potiticians. For instance, blog users

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622

may have given a boost to presidential hopeful Howard Dean.* Also,many journalists consider blogs a trustworthy source of Information andrely on them for information and story ideas.'' Blogs have been creditedfor bringing to light stories ignored by the traditional media, such asracist remarks by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott that led to hisresignation.'"

This study surveyed Weblog users online to investigate tiowcredible they view blogs as compared to other sources. This study willalso explore how reliance on Weblogs, as well as traditional and onlinemedia sources, predicts credibility of Weblogs.

Beginning in the 1940s, many researchers studied the impact ofthe credibility of sources on interpersonal influence, examining whatcha racteristics made a speaker persuasive. Similarly, researchers exam-ined characteristics of persuasive messages. Studies of the credibility ofa mediimi, however, arose from concerns in the newspaper industry firstabout the rising number of people turning to radio for news and thenabout the number relying on television. The rise of the Internet has ledtoahostof recent credibility studies comparing traditional sources withthis emerging medium."

TraditionalMediaaudCredibility

Credibility research has focused almost entirely on mainstreammedia, particularly newspapers.'^ Many of these studies were con-ducted by news organizations that feared that falling credibility wouldsignal further decline in readership and advertising profits.'-*

Credibility of Nontraditional Media. Several studies have ex-plored the impact of nontraditional media such as talk radio and late-night talk shows in the last three presidential elections on voters''' and onthe campaign itself' wtiite others have exptored the content of suchnontraditional media,"' While scant attention has been paid to howcredible voters find information in nontraditional media, anecdotalevidence suggests that users judge them as more credibte than main-stream media.

For instance, schola rs have noted that talk radio and talk televisionemerged as forces in the 1992 presidential campaign because the publicwas dissatisfied with media coverage. Users could talk directly tocandidates or to talk show hosts, rather than have information filteredthrough the press,'' While traditional media attempt to balance cover-age, talk radio hosts openly attack both opposition candidates as well aswhat they perceive as liberal media coverage.'" Political talk show hostspresent themselves as true authorities on politicat issues wtiile claimingtraditional media hide or lie about facts, a suspicion apparently held bytalk show listeners. Finally, listeners may trust the information theyreceive from talk radio because they believe the hosts are more openabout their biases than traditional journalists who subtly interject theirviews into their stories.'^

Early Internet Users and Credibility. Some of the earliest Internetcredibility studies were conducted before traditional media became

Nontradi-tional MediaaudCredibility

WAGTHLBU-IG 623

WeblogCredibility

TraditionalMedia Useaud WeblogCredibility

established in onlii"ie publishing. During the mid-1990s the Internetwas compared to a frontier outpost where discussion was "free, some-times pointed, often blunt, and frequently rebellious."-" Critics sug-gested several reasons why the Web should be judged as a less crediblesource of information than traditional media: Anyone could post infor-mation to the Web, and these sites created by indi\'iduals spoutingtheir views often appeared as credibte as those hosted by reliablesources. Such sites lacked editoriat oversight and did not have theprofessional and social pressures to provide accurate and unbiasedinformation.^' Also, the Internet was rife with rumors and misinforma-tion, and severa! parody sites, which looked like official sites, sproutedup on the Internet.^

However, the public, particularly Internet users, did not sharethese fears. While some studies found that the Internet lagged behindtraditional media in terms of credibility,-^ most found Web informationjust as, or more, credible.-' Many of these studies only examined Internetusers. However, when studies compared users to nonusers, findingsindicated that those who relied on the Internet for news and informationwere more likely to judge it as credible.-^

Clear lines have been drawn between blog users and traditionaljournalists on the question of blog credibility. Critics advance the samearguments made against the Internet in its earliest days. Anyone cancreate a blog, and bloggers are not bound by ethical and professionalstandards of trained journalists. Indeed, a leading blogger, Sean-PaulKelley of the Agonist, was accused of stealing information from asubscription intelligenceserviceand posting it to his Web!og.-"Siniilarly,bloggers are not bound by standarcis of objectivity; most have strongviews that they express openly. As Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynoldssays, "A blog is a disclosure of the blogger's biases."-" Weblogs do notundergo gatekeepijig or editing to cull misinformation, sharpen prose,and ensure what is written is fair.-* Finally, many bioggers use pseud-onyms such as Loco Parentis, Big Arm Woman, or No Watermelons,making it difficult to judge the credibility of the information on theirsite. "

Blogs do rely, however, on peer review of other bloggers to pointout mistakes that can be easily and prominently corrected.^" Users mayfind Webiogs more credible because they are independent rather thancontrolled bycorporateiJiterests; bloggers may discuss issues traditionalmedia shy away from because they might hurt corporations.-'' Blogs alsorun stories from around the world that were unavailable or ignored bytraditional media.-*- Likepolitical talk radio listeners, then, Weblog usersare likely to consider blogs a highly credible source of intormation.

Observers relate the rise in blogs to growing distrust and d islike ofthe traditional media,- -* particularly after 9/11, which saw the number ofbtogs increase due to the perception ttiat tradi tionat media coverage wasoverly sympathetic to Arab nations and their peoples.-'"' Most bloggersand their readers are conservative, viewing the media as liberal,'*-'' and

624 luUHNAUSM & M'lSS CoMWl

tend to see blogs as a new and better journalism that is opinionated,independent, and personal,-''' While studies of traditional media suggestthat opinionated writing lowers credibility,•*' bioggers and blogreaders contend that Webtogs contain thoughtful analysis of the newsevents missing from mainstream media.•' Bloggers and readers criticizethe media, and some sites, such as talkingpointsmemo.com,buzzmachine.com, and asmailvictory.net, are devoted to critiquing me-dia coverage. Bloggers and readers routinely fact check stories in tradi-tional media and gieefuily point out errors.-*'*

Whiie bloggers and blog readers are critical of traditional media,tiiey do not ignore them, instapundit's Reynolds notes that to be a criticof the media means that you must pay attention to them. Because mostbloggers are not independent newsgatherers, they must rely heavily onthe Web for their content, and much of that comes from traditionalmedia. Also, btoggers often try to lend authority to their sites by provid-ing links to traditional media sites.'" '

Conversely, although journalists may perceive bloggers as"waruiabe amateurs badly in need of some skills and editors," theyincreasingly rely on blogs for story tips, information, and access to storiesfrom media throughout the world." Further, while many political blogsare written by armchair observers spouting their views, many journalistsand some news organizations like MSNBC tiost tiieir own biogs.*^

Studies consistentty show that heavy media users judge the Internetas higiiiy credibte. Indeed, traditionat media use in some studies is thestrongest predictor of Internet credibility."'-' Those who go online forpolitical news and information tend to be political junkies, iieavy usersof traditionat political sources of information such as CNN, Sundaymorning public affairs shows, and newsmagazines.''"' The Internetsupplements rather than replaces traditionat sources of potiticat infor-mation."' Aiso, traditionat media users tend to be higtily media literate,knowing what sources to trust and what to discard, and have learnedwhere to go online for credible news,"""

Studies of mainstream media suggest ttiat the more peopte rely onttie media for news and information, the more they will judge thatinformation as credible.''^ Similarly, people judge their preferred newssource as the most credible.""** Many studies examining Web credibilityalso find that the more people go online the more credibte they rate theinformation they find. Greer*" discovered thatamount of time online wasthe strongest predictor of whether an ont ine medium would be judgedas credible. On the other hand, Johnson and Kaye''" discovered that forbotti potiticat and sports news, amount of Web use faited to predictonline credibility, a finding supported by others.'^' Johnson and Kayefoutid that Internet users were not heavy users of traditional media andspeculated that because of their limited experience with traditionalmedia, they were not weil trained to judge which Internet sources arecredible.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Internet use would predictWeblog credibiiity. First, blog users are heavy Internet users,-'- Blog

Internet Useaud WeblogCredibility

: nn Bux: 625

users are likely to be media iiterate and know what sources they trust anddo not trust.

Blogs With the exception of trust in the government, political variablesand Political have not proven strong predictors of online credibility. For instance,. . J Johnson and Kaye ^ foLind that political trtist was the second strongest

predictor of credibiiity of online newspaper and TV news, and strongpartisans tended to judge online media as believable.

Political attitudes may have little influence on online credibilitybecause studies suggest that online users, rather than being sociallyisolated and apathetic, are politically interested' "' and are more likely toseek out information from the media than the general public.' "' However,researchers are split on whether they are more knowledgeable^ than theaverage citizen. White trust in government initially was not a strongpredictor of credibility, it has emerged as a stronger influence as theaudience has become more mainstream and trust in government hasincreased.^''

Political variables may have a limited effect on credibility judg-ments of blog users because many are strong political activists. Whilesome Weblogs and blog readers lean toward the left, the blogospiiere ispredominately right of center, either conser\'ative or libertarian.' '' Blogreaders are also political junkies. Tlie American Domogrnphic surveyfound that political sites were the second most visited type of Weblogsbehind personal or family blogs.'''

Hlogs ana studies of the Web offer conflicting findings about the influence ofDeJnographics demographics on Web credibility. Earlier stud ies found that those who

judged the Internet as credible were, paradoxically, those who tended touse the media the least: young females of lower education and income.'' 'Demographic influence, however, sometimes declined after controllingfor other factors.''' Some recent studies have also found fewer connec-tions between demographics and credibility, particularly after control-ling for other factors. Johnson and Kaye speculated that as the Web hasmoved from being a bastion of young, white, wealthy, well-educatedmales to one that is moredemographically mainstream, the influence ofdemographics has deciined.''-

However, Flanagin and Metzger reported that men rated bothmessage and site credibility significantly higher than women.''^Joimson and Kaye,*^ in a study of how oniine experience influencedcredibility judgments, found that demographics proved to be the stron-gest predictor of credibility, with young men with lower educationrating the internet as less credible. The authors speculated that becausemen had been online longer than women, spend more time online, andengage in more activities, that experience may help them judge whichsites are credible and which ones are not. Demographics shouid predictWeblog credibility because, like the Web in general during the n"iid-1990s, the biogosphere is popuiated with younger wliite men of highincomes.*"

626 jauRNAU^M & M A ' S CoMVUNicAnoN QuAPTT.m.Y

This study poses the following research questions:

RQl: TowhatdegreewillWeblogusersviewWeblogsas a credible source of information?

RQ2: Will Weblog users judge Weblogs as signifi-cantly more credible than other online sources?

RQ3: Will Weblog users judge Weblogs as signifi-cantly more credibie than traditional sourcesof information?

RQ4: Towhatdegreewillreiianceon Webiogs predictWeblog credibiiity after controlling for demographics, po-litical attitudes, interest and knowiedgeofnonpoli tical news,as well as reliance on traditional and other online media?

ResearchQuestions

A survey aimed at Weblog readers was posted online from 23 Aprilto 22 May 2003. The survey was linked from 131 Weblogs of diverseideologies'^''and 14 Weblog-oriented bulletin boards/electronic mailingtists. ^ Respondents atso teamed about the survey from announcementssent to Weblog-oriented chat rooms and to bloggers who agreed to postthe survey URL. Additionally, a "snowball" technique was used whererespondents could automaticalty forward the survey to fettow btogreaders,''"

Generating a random sampte of Weblog users would be verydifficutt because there is no centrat registry of blog readers or any way toidentify them from Internet users who do not access Weblogs. Unliketelephone and mail surveys, samples cannot be produced throughcensus lists or random digit-dialii"ig-type teclmiques sucti as random e-mail generators.'''' Therefore, this study employs a convenience sample.Atthougti thefindings cannot be generalized to Internet or Webtog usersas a whole, they do present a picture of the 3,747 survey respondents.

Dependent Measures. Media credibility is generally defined as theworthiness of being believed, and it is often measured as a multidimen-sional constructconsistingofbelie\'ability, accuracy, fairness, and depthof information."" Respondents were asked to rate on a 5-point scalethe degree of believability, fairness, accuracy, and depth of Webiogs.The 5-point scate ranged from "not at att" to "very" (believable, fair,accurate, or in-depth). Scores were combined into a Weblog credibilityindex (Cronbach's alpha = ,79).

Independent Measures.Credibility of Traditional and Onlhie Sources. Respondents were

asked to compare traditional and online media in terms of beiievability,fairness, accuracy, and ciepth using the same 5-point scaie. Respon-dents marked their assessments of ti'aditionally delivered broadcasttelevision news, cable television news, newspapers, radio news, talkradio, and news magazines, and of the following online sources: broad-cast television news sites, cable television news sites, newspaper sites.

Method

627

radio news sites, and news magazines sites. Scores were combined intoa credibility index for each traditional and online medium (alphas fortraditional media range from .87 to .92 and for online media from .83 to.89).

Source Rcliaiwe. Past studies indicate that the credibility of a me-dium or source of information is strongly related to reliance on a source.Using a 5-point scaie ranging from "heavily rely on" to "don't rely a tail,"respondents assessed their levels of reliance on the same six traditionalmedia and five oniine sources.

Political Attitudes. Respondents assessed their knowledge andinvolvement in politics and in nonpolitical issues in relation to ti"ieirWeblog use. Using a 5-point scale ranging from "greatly increased"to "greatiy decreased," respondents judged whether Weblogs influ-enced their involvement in politics and their knowledge about politicaland general news issues. Respondents also indicated their degree of in-terest in politics, in general news, and in current events on a 0 to 10 scale.

Trust in the government was measured as a summated ijidex ofthree items from the National Election Studies conducted by the Univer-sity of Michigan: "Most of our leaders are devoted to service," "Politi-cians never tell us what they really think," and "I don't tiilnk publicofficials care much about what people like me think." The responseoptions for each attitude item ranged from "strongly disagree" (1) to"strongly agree" (5). The polarity was reversed on the second and thirdstatements to create the index (alpha = .75).

Demographics. Gender, age, income, and education data were alsocoltected.

Data Analysis. First, frequencies were run on the Webtog, onlinesources, and traditicmal media credibility indices. Second, paired Ntestswere calculated to compare the credibility of Weblogs to each online andeach traditionalty delivered mediimi. Lastty,hierarchicat regression wasconducted to examine whether retiance on Weblogs predicts credibilityof Weblogs after controlling for demograpiiics, political attitudes, gen-eral news interest and knowledge, and reliance on traditional media andonline sources. The predictors were entered into the regression modelsasblocks, with demographic variables entered first, followed by poli ticaland general news variables. Measures of reliance on traditional mediawere entered third, followed bv reliance on online sources.

KesuitS Respondent Profile. The online survey was completed by 3,747respondents,"' Almost 9 out of 10 Weblog readers are white (89.3%),and 76.5'X, are male. The respondents are highly educated, with 92.6'^reporting some college or higher, and 41.8'I<> earning more than $65,001per year.

Just over half (52.5"/ )) credit Webiogs with increasing their levels ofpolitical invoivement. Almost 9 out of 10 claim that they have becomemore knowledgeable about politics (87.3'''1O and about general news andcurrent events (88.7'^) since they started reading Weblogs. Almost three-quarters of the respondents are very interested in politics (64.9%) andgeneral news and current events (67,8%), They are politically interested

b2o

•I ' . -T^^r

TABLE 1Perceptions of Credibility and Depth of Webiogs and Traditional and Online Sources

Weblogs Believable

Not at ail/not very... 5.9Somewhat,,. 34.5Moderately/very.... 59,6

(Mean Scores as percentages)

Weblogs Fair Weblogs Accurate(W=3,680) (N=3,679)Not at all/not very,,, 22.7 Not at all/not very,. 10.4Somewhat... 38-9 Somewhat... 39,8Moderately/very.... 38.4 Moderately/very.,,, 49.8

Weblogs Depth(N=3,663)Not at all/not very...9.4Somewhat,.. 18,4Moderately/very..,. 72.2

Weblogs {W-3,659)Not at all/not very.,.Somewhat...Moderately/very,...

Online Broadcast Television (N=3,518)Not at all/not very,..Somewhat...Moderately/very,...

Online Cable Television (JV=368)Not at all/not very.-.Somewhat...Moderately/very....

Online Newspapers (N-3,574)Not at all/not very,..Somewhat.,,Moderately/very....

Online News Magazines (N=3,398)Not at all/not very,..Somewhat..,Moderately/very.,..

Online Radio News (N=3,154)Not at all/not very,..Somewhat,..Moderately/very....

Credibility(Mean Scoresas percentages)

03.522,973.6

29.050.220.8

16.346.347.4

15.841.542.7

18.245.836.0

26.758.714.6

Credibility(Mean Scores

as percentages)

Broadcast Television News (iV=3,578)Not at all/not very,..Somewhat...Moderately/very..,.

41.543.714.8

Cable Television News (W=3,55i)Not at all/not very,..Somewhat...Moderately/very....

Newspapers (N=3,583)Not at all/not very,..Somewhat..,Moderately/very,...

News Magazines (W=3,484)Not at all/not very,..Somewhat...Moderately/very...

Radio News (N=3,392)Not at all/not very...Somewhat..,Moderately/very....

Talk Radio (N=3,375)Not at all/not very...Somewhat,..Moderately/very....

19.145.935.0

13,040,546,5

14.242,143,7

23,051,026,0

39.436.524,1

and knowledgeable, but oniy moderately trusting of government.Slightly less than one-half (47%) report high to very high levels of trustin the government, 30.9% are moderately trustful, and 22.1%. claim lowto very low degrees of trust.

Respondents have been online for just over 7 1/2 years, spendingabout 9.1 hours per week interacting with bloggers, reading comments,and following links to additional information, and have been doing so for1 year and 9 months on average, which coincides with the post 9/11popularity surge of Weblogs. Additionally, 64.5% seek information from

629

what they consider conservative or very conservative Weblogs, whereasonly 16.3% turn to liberal or very liberal Weblogs, and the remaining20,2"/i> look for more moderate information. The demographic profile ofthe respondents and the types of Weblogs they visit closely mirrorWeblog reader profiles reported by others."-

Credibility of Online and Traditional Sources.Weblogs. RQl asks aboutthe credibility ofWeblogs. Aimost three-

quarters (73.6%) of Webiog readers view Weblogs as moderately to verycredible and only 3.5% consider them "not at all" or "not very credible"(Table 1). When the credibiiity index is broken into its four components(believable, fair, accurate, depth), depth of information emerges as aWeblog's strongest attribute; 72.2'}o of respondents thinly of Weblogs as"moderately" to "very" in-depth sources of information. Weblogs arejudged moderately to very believable by 59.6'Ki. Blog users seem toacknowledge that accuracy of Weblogs may be questionable; 50.2'/uconsider them "somewhat" or "not very" accurate. Additionally, re-spondents seem aware of Weblog biases with 61.6'/o claiming thatWebiogs are "somewhat" or "not \'ery" fair.

Online Media Sites. Weblog readers rated online newspapers themost credible ofonline media, although all onlinesources were generallythought of as only "somewhat" credible. However, only 42.7% rateonline newspapers as "moderately" or "very" credible. Online radionews si tes and broadcast television sites were judged as the least cred iblewith 26.7% and 29.0'!{i, respectively, considering them as "not very" or"not at al! credibie."

Traditional Media. Traditional media do not fare much better.Printed newspapers and news magazines had the highest percentage ofrespondents rating them as moderately to very credible sources, 46.5"/oand 43.7'!''.., respectively; however, both had an almost equal percentagerating them as "somewhat" credible. Generally, Weblog users viewtraditional media as only "somewhat" credible.

Weblogs Compared to Online Media Sites. RQ2 asked whetherrespondents view Weblogs as more credible (M=14.3) than otiieronline soiu'ces. Paired sample /-tests were used for comparisons.Weblogs were more credible than any other online source: onlinebroadcast television (/=54.5, d.f.^3,496, /?<.OO1), online cable televisionnews ((=38,0, d.f.=3,539, /K.OOI), online newspapers (/=28.6, d.f,=3,548,p<.001), online news magazines (/=34.7, d.f.=3,376, /x.OOl), and onlineradio news (/=52,4, d,f.=3,332, ^x.OOl). Online broadcast televisionand online radio news have the lowest mean (M-10.3, M=10.4, respec-tively) credibility scores, whereas online newspapers had the highest(M=12.0).

Weblogs Compared to Traditional Media. RQ3 involved comparingWeblogs to traditionally delivered media, Weblogs were judged signifi-cantly more credible than any traditional medium: broadcast televisionnewsV=63.5, d.f,=3,549,;'<.0Q 1), cable television news (f=39,9, d.f.=3,521,^<,001), newspapers (1=25.2, d.f.=3,554,/!<.001), news magazines (f=27.9,d.f.=3,455, /K.OOI), radio news (f^44.9, d.f.=3,366, p<.Om), and talk radio(f^61.2,d.f.=3,352,;j<.001). Broadcast television (M=9.4) and over-the-airtalk radio (M=9.8) are the two least credible traditional sources and

JOUKNAUSM& MAS!: CoftlMUNICrKTION QilAKTLKLY

FIGURE 1Credibility of Traditionally Delivered Information Sources vs. Online Counterparts

16.014.0

12.0

10,0

8.06.0

4.0

2,0

0.0

. # •

Source

newspapers (M-ii.Ji} and newsmagazmes [M^ll.2) the most credible(Figure 1).

Predictors of Weblog Credibility. RQ4 asks whether Weblogcredibility can be predicted by Weblog reliance after controlling forreliance on traditional media and other online sources, and politicalattitudes, general news interest and knowledge, and demographics.

Even after controlling for other variables, reliance on Weblogs is astrong positive and significant predictor of perceptions of Weblog cred-ibility (Table 2). The more users rely on Weblogs, the higher theirassessments of credibility. Reliance on Webiogs explains between 12,7'/LIand 14.6"XJ of the perceptions of Webtog credibility.

Reliance on five of the six traditional media and on tlie onlinesources also significantly, but weakly, predicts Webiog credibility; how-ever, all but two of those relationships were negative, i^eiiance ontraditional media accounts for an additional .1'%)- 1.8'/oof the variance,and reliance on online sources for an additional 1%.

Political involvement, political knowledge, politicai interest, andgenerai news knowledge are weak, but consistent, predictors of Weblogcredibility, but general news interest is not. Trust in government is aisoa weak, but significant, predictor. Tbe political and generai newsvariables, however, explain a greater percentage of the variability (about'\5%) than do the online and traditional reliance measures and about thesameamountas the Weblog reliance variables. None of the demographicvariables predicts Weblog credibility.

Reliance on Broadcast Television and Online Broadcast TelevisionWebsites. Perceptions of Weblog credibility are significantly, but nega-tively and weakly, predicted by reliance on broadcast televisionnews Cf[11,3370] - 64,44, /x.OOl) and their online counterparts

631

TABLE 2Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Reliance Variables as Predictors of Weblog Credibility

f'redictor Variables Weblog Weblog Weblog Weblog Weblog WeblogCredibility Credibility Credibility Credibility Credibility Credibility

DemographicsGenderAgelid II cationIncome

.03

.01-.02.03

,03,01

-.02,03

.03

.00-,00.03

.02

.02-,02.03

.03

.01-.01.03

.02

.01-.02.03

R- .006

Political MeasuresPolitical Involvement .06'"*Political Knowledge ,11*"General News Knowledge ,06"**Political Interest ,04*General News Interest .01Trust ,06*"

R' ,156R-Change ,150'*

Reliiince Tr.iditional MediaBroadcast TV NewsGable TV NewsNewspapersRadioTalk RadioNews Magazine.s

R-R- Chnnge

Reliance Online Media

-.05'*N / AN / AN / AN / AN / A

,174,018'

Online Broadcast TV NewsOnline Gable TV NewsOniine NewspapersOnline RadioOnline News Magazines

Reliance on WeblogsR-K^Glnnge

Adjusted RSignificance

-.07**-N/AN/AN/AN/A

,178,004"

,40*'*.305.127"

.302

.000

.006 .006 ,006 .006 ,006

.05**

.12*"

.06 ' "

.05",00. 06" '

.156

.150"*

N/A.05"

N / AN / AN / AN / A

.156,000

N / A-.06'--N / AN / AN / A

.160

.004 '"

.41"*,29S.138"*

.295

.000

. 0 5 "

.12***

.05**

. 0 5 "

.02

.06*'*

,154.148'**

N / AN / A-.04'N / AN / AN / A

.164

.010***

N / AN / A-.i2**-N / AN / A

.175

.011**'

. 4 1 ' "

.310,146***

.307,000

.05"

.11*"

.07**"

.04"

.00

.06**'

.155

.149*"

N / AN / AN / A-.00N/AN / A

.156

.001*

N / AN / AN / A- .06" 'N / A

,161.005***

.41-**

.2^7

.136 '"

.293

.000

.05**,11"*.06***,04*,00,05**

.155

.149 '"

N / AN / AN / AN / A. 0 9 ' "

N / A

.161,006***

N / AN / AN / A- , 08 ' "N / A

.171

.010*"*

,40*",303.132"*

.300

.000

.05**, 1 1 " ',06***.05*'.00.06***

.155

.149***

N / AN / AN / AN / AN / A-,04*

.156

.001'

N / AN / AN / AN / A-,05**

,157.001'

. 4 1 " ',298.141*"

.295

.000

{F[12,3369] = 60,76, ;K.OO1). The less Weblog users rely on broadcasttelevision news and broadcast news Websites (/i--.O5, p<.01; b--.O7,;j<.001), the more they rely on Weblogs and, tbus, the higher they rateWeblog credibility.

632 & MJ\SS

ReliancconCableTelevisionNewsandOnlineCableTelevision Websites.Reliance on cable television news significantly, but weakly, predictscredibility of Weblogs (F|l 1,3374] = 56.85, /x.OOl) (/'=.Q5, ;K.O1). Themore a Weblog reader relies on cable television news the higher thecredibility ofWeblogs. Conversely, less reliance on cable television newssites leads to perceptions of Weblog credibility (b=~.O6, p<.Ql). ThoseWeblog readers who view Weblogs as credible are more likely to watchcable television news than to connect to cable television news online(F[12,3373]= 53,49, ;><,00J).

Reliance on Newspapers ami Online Newspapers. Reliance on bothprinted and online newspapers predicts Weblog credibility (F[n,3381] =60.40, /J<,001; (F|12,33801 = 59.70, /K.OOI), respectively. Less reliance onnewspapers (/'=-.O4, ;?<.O5) and their online sites (b=-.l2, p<.001) leads tohigher Webkig credibility.

Reliance on Radio Nezvs, Talk Radio, and Radio Nezvs Sites. Over-the-air talk radio is a significant and positive predictor (i7=.O9, p<.OQl). Thegreater the reliance on talk radio, the higher the Weblog credibility.Online radio news, on the other hand, is a significant but negativepredictor{/'--.08,/;<.001), Weblog users who rely on talk radio but not ononlineradio Websites for news and information are more likely to judgeWeblogs as highly credible (f [12,3362] = 57.91, p<.00]). Reliance onbroadcast radio news is the only medium, traditional or online, that is nota significant predictor.

Relianceon Nezi's Magazinesand OnliiwNews Magazines. Reliance onboth print and online news magazines significantly, but negatively andweakly, predicts Weblog credibility (b=-.O4, p<.05; b=-.O5, p<.01, respec-tively). Weblog readers with low levels of reliance on news magazinesare more likely to rate Webiogs as highly credible (F[12,3371] = 52.51,

This study surveyed Weblog users online to discover how crediblethey viewed blogs and how judgments of Weblog credibility compare totraditional and online media sources. This study also explored thedegree to which reliance on Weblogs, as well as traditional and onlinemedia sources, predicts Weblog credibility.

Almost three-quarters of respondents view Weblogs as moder-ately to very credible and only 3.5% rate them not at all or not verycredible. An important reason users say they rely on blogs is becausethey provide more depth and more thoughtful analysis than is availablein other media.''-' On the other hand, fewer than four in ten thought blogswere fair. However, while fairness may be considered a hallmark oftraditional journalism, bias is likely seen as a virtue by blog users. Themajority rate themselves as conservative and almost two-thirds said theysought information from conservative or very conservative sites. Blogreaders are seeking out information to support their views and are likelyto consider conservative information they receive from blogs as highlycredible.

Users view blogs as a new and better form of journalism than themainstream media, one that is opinionated, analytical, independent, and

633

personal.'''* Not surprisingly, then, Weblog users judged blogs assignificantly more credible than other media. However, this does notmean that bloggers do not consider some mainstream media credible.The plurality considered both online and traditional newspapers, tradi-tional news magazines, and online cable television news as moderatelyto very credible and both online news magazines and traditional cabletelevision news also recorcied moderate credibility scores. These ratingsfor print media and cable television were similar to those found in a studyof politically interested Internet users.''^ The moderate scores for printmedia and cable news may reflect bloggers' and blog readers' paradoxi-cal attitude toward traditional media. They may distrust the media, butbloggers link to media sites and pay attention to media content, even ifonly to hunt for mistakes and look for what they consider bias.

Weblog reliance was the only strong predictor of Weblog credibil-ity. These results parallel studies of traditional media thnt the more oneuses a medium, the more credible one judges it.'*" Amount of reliancemay also be a strong predictor of Weblog credibility because mediaconsumers determine the credibility of a source by using various cuessuch as reputation of the medium and style of delivery.^ For newbies,Weblogs may not appear credible. Most are a series of short journalentries with links to other information; they do not look like traditionalmedia. Furthermore, thepersonal, opinionated writing style that attractsblog users may put off some newcomers used to the more balanced,disinterested writing style of traditional media. Finally, whiie traditionalmedia claim tobe nonbiascd, most news Weblogs make no apologies forbeing conservative, liberal, or libertarian. Visiting blog^ of a differentpolitical stripe than one's own may be particularly off putting fora newuser. But as the user finds a blog with views matching his or her own andadjusts to the style of reporting, subsequent greater use of the blog maymean he or she will judge it credible.

Past studies have found that reliance on traditional media consis-tently is the strongest predictor of online credibility. This study foundthat both online and traditional media reliance were weak predictors ofWeblog credibility. More important, most relationships were negative,meaning that those who rely little on traditional media are more likely toview blogs as credible.

Past studies have found that the internet has served as a supple-ment to traditional information for news and information.'" Internetusers are news junkies who judge online and traditional sources asequally credible and rely on both to survey the news environment.However, blog users distrust traditional media and see Weblogs as aviable alternative.

However, the more blog readers use talk radio, the more crediblethey view Weblogs, even though blog users did not rate talk radio ashighly credible, hi many ways, Weblogs are online versions of talk radio.Talk show listeners can talk directly to talk show hosts or guests;"''Weblog users can either e-mail the blog host directly or post commentsto the blog. Both blogs and talk radio are dominated by conservativehosts who openly attack political opponents and what they perceive asliberal press coverage.^" Blog users may trust information they receive

634

from Weblogs because they believe the hosts do not hide their biases.^'Similarly, while blog readers praise Weblogs for their depth of coverage,talk radio also is applauded by its users for depth.* ^ While early studiessuggested that talk radio listeners were socially isolated and politicallyalienated,"-* later studies presented talk radio listeners as politicallyinterested and active, with high levels of political involvement andpolitical knowledge,^* but low levels of trust in government."-^ Thisstudy's Weblog users also were politically interested, invoived, active,and knowledgeable, but with only moderate trust in government. Fur-thermore, these variables positively, though weakly, predicted credibil-ity ofWeblogs.

Weblog credibility was also positively, though weakly, predictedby cable television use. Blog users who tire of the so-called liberalleanings of broadcast news may be taking shelter in cable networks suchas Fox who have aligned themselves on the right end of the politicalspectrum."''

The study has limitations, ofcourse. Reaching the small popula-tion of Internet users who have visited blogs is a challenge becausetraditional methodsof data collection do not readily apply to the Internet.Though posting a siir\'ey online is recognized as an effective method ofcollecting data, limitations arise from the lack of random selection. Thisstudy relied on a self-selected convenience sampie, and, therefore, re-sults cannot be generaiized to the Internet as a whole or even to blogusers. As Babbie noted, however, in situations where random probabil-ity sampling is not possible, nonprobability sampling is acceptable.''"

The Internet is conducive to purposive sampling, as sLibsets witi-iinthe larger population of users can be identified and solicited throughannouncements posted on message boards, sent out to special mailinglists, and through hyperlinks posted on key online sites, as employedhere.**" Careful use of this type of purposive sampling generates resultsthat may be representative of a specific subset of Internet users, but notthe larger population.""* Still, the demographic profile of the Weblogreaders wiio responded to this study and the types of Webiogs they \'isitclosely mirror the Weblog reader profiles reported by others.™

This study suggested that demographically, Weblog users re-sembled early Internet users: white males with high incomes and highlevels of education. Past research indicates that as Internet users becamemore representative of the demographic mainstream, credibility scoresfor online and traditional media rose. Future studies could find if Webiogusers follow a similar trend, or whether blog readers remain a distinctgroup of hiternet users who maintain their dislike and distrust of thetraditional media.

NOTES

1. Barb Palser, "journalistic Blogging," American journalism Review24 (July/August 2002): 58; Catherine Seipp, "Online Uprising,"/\/J/!T/<77Hjournalism Rcviczi' 24 (June 2002): 42-47.

2, Anick Jesdanun, "In Online Logs, Web Authors Personalize At-

WAC.IIIFBI.IX: 635

tacks. Retaliation,"T/ic Florida Times-iluion, http://www.Jacksonville,com/tu-online/stories/101401/bus_7528493.html, 14 October 2001;"Weblogs Offer Forum for Attack Reactions," USA Today, http://www,usatoday,com/ tech/news/2001/10/12/web-logSphtni, 12 Octo-ber 2001.

3. Maureen Ryan, "Blogs'RiseStymiesOld Media," C/;/mx" •'"''''"""''http://www.chicago,tribune.com, 17 April 2003,

4. Hope Cristol, "News in the Digital Age," Futurist 36 (September2002): 8-9; Blake Carver, "What Would Dewey Do? Librarians Grapplewith Internet," Library journal 128 (winter 2003): 30-32; Seipp, "OnlineUprising."

5. Miriam j . Metzger, Andrew J, Flanagin, Keren Eyal, Daisy 1 .Lemus, and Robert McCann, "Credibility for the 21st Century: Integrat-ing Perspectives on Source, Message and Media Credibility in the Con-temporary Media Environment," in Comnnuiication Yearbook 27, ed.Pamela J Kalfleisch (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003),293-335,

6. Dave Amis, "Web Logs: Online Navel Cazing?," http://www.netfreedom.org, 21 September 2002; Pew Internet & American LifeProject, "InternetActivities,"//www.pewinternet.org/trends/Internet_Activitie.s_4.23.04.litni, Pew put the number of users between three andnine million.

7. Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Internet Activities." Atthe time of the study, about 5% of Internet users had visited blogs (DavidWhelan, "ln a Fog About Blogs,"/4;Mf//f(7;; D(';;;(\i 'ra/)/jic'; 25 [July/August2003]: 22-23; Lee Rainie, Susannah Fox, and'Deborah Fallows, "TheInternet and the Iraq War: How Oniine Americans Have Used theInternet to Learn War News, Understand Events, and Promote TheirViews," available at http://www.pewinternet.org/reports.

8. Ryan, "Blogs' Rise Stymies."9. Scott Rosenberg, "Much Ado About Blogging," h t tp : / /

www.salon.com/tech, 12 February 2003; Seipp, "Online Uprising."10. Janet Kornblum, "Welcome to the Biogosphere," USA Today,

http://www.usatoday.com/webguide/internctlife, 8July2003;PejmanYousefzadeh, "Weasel Words/' http://www.techcentralstation.com, 10February 2003.

11. Metzger et al., "Credibility for the 21st Century."12. Metzger et al., "Credibility for the 21st Century,"13. For instance, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Newspaper

Credibility: Building Reader Trust, conducted by MORI research, 1985;Times Mirror, The People & the Press: A Times Mirror Investigation of PublicAttitudes Toward Nezvs Media, conducted by Gallup in collaboration withMichaei J. Robinson (Los Angeles: Times Mirror Company, 1986); Asso-ciated Press Managing Editors Association,/oi/f-Hif//sfp(7HifR(VJifc''s:Br;i/_ '-ing the Credibility Gap, conducted by MORI Research, Inc. (San Bernar-dino, CA: Tiie Sun, October 1985).

14. Steven H. Chaffee, Xinshu Zhao, and Glenn Leshner, "PoliticalKnowledge and the Campaign Media of 1992," Communication Research21 Oune 1994): 305-324; Thomas J. Johnson, Mahmoud Braima, andJayanthiSothirajah, "Doing the Traditional Media Sidestep: Comparing

636

the Effects of the Internet and Other Nontraditional Media in the 1996Presidential Campaign,"/oHnjn/f's;/; & Mass Communication Qiiarterhf76(spring 1999): 99-123; Michael Pfau, Jaeho Cho, and Kristen Chong,"Communication Forms in U.S. Presidential Campaigns: Influences ofCandidate Perceptions and the Democratic Process," Hanmrd Interna-tional jonrnal of Press/Politics 8 (fall 2001): 118-34.

15. Edwin Diamond, Martha McKay, and Robert Silverman, "PopGoes Politics: New Media, Interactive Formats and the 1992 PresidentialCampaign," American Behavioral Scientist 27 (November 1993): 257-61;Daniel Amundson and S. Robert Lichter, "Heeeeeere's Politics," PublicOpinion 11 (July/August 1988): 46-47.

16. David Niven, S. Robert Lichter, and Daniel Amundson, "ThePolitical Content of Late Night Comedy," Harvard international journalof Press/Politics 8 (summer 2003): 118-33.

17. Benjamin I, Page, WIio Deliberates? Mass Media in Modern Democ-racy (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996).

18. Jon Katz, "The Plugged-in Voter: The New News Has Recon-nected People and PoWtics," Rolling Stone, 10 December 1992, 115; DianaOwen, "Talk Radio and Evaluations of President Clinton," PoliticalCommunieation 14 (July/September 1997): 333-53,

19. Richard Davis, "Understanding Broadcast Political Talk," Politi-cal Communieation 14 (July/September 19y7): 323-32,

20. Ri ta Kirk Whillock, "Cyber-politics: The Online Strategies of '96,"American Behavioral Scientist 40 (August 1997): 1211.

21. Howard 1. Finberg and Martha L. Stone, Digital journalism Cred-ibility Study (Washington, DC: Online News Association, 2002); PaulStarobin, "On the Square," National journal, 25 May 1996, 1145-1149;Andrew Calabrese and Mark Borchert, "Prospects for Electronic Democ-racy in the Uni ted Sta tes: Rethinking Communication and Social Policy,"Media, Culture and Society 18 (spring 1996): 249-68.

22. Frank Houston, "The Virtual Trail," Columbia journalism Reviezu,January/February 1996,26-38; Pam Greenberg, "Political Possibilities,"State Legislatures 22 (March 1996): 19-23; Finberg and Stone, DigitalJouriuilism Credibility Study.

23. John W. Mashek with Lawrence T. McGill and Adam ClaytonPowell U],Lethargi/ '96: Hozv the Media Covered a Listless Campaign (Arling-ton, VA: The Freedom Forum, 1997); Spiro Kiousis, "Public Trust orMistrust? Perceptions of Media Credibility in the Information Age,"Mass Coinnninication & Society 4 (fall 2001): 381-403.

24. Thomas J. Johnson and Barbara K. Kaye, "Cruising is Believing?Comparing Internet and Traditional Sources on Media Credibility Mea-sures," journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 75 (summer 1998):325-40; Thomas J. Jolinson and Barbara K. Kaye, "Using is Believing: TheIntluence of Reliance on the Credibility of Online Political Informationamong Politically Interested internet Users," journalism & Mass Coiinnu-uieatioii Qj/iuYcr/i/77 (winter 2000): 865-79; Jupiter Communications, "80Percent of Consumers Trust Online News as Much as Offline," availableat http://wwvv.jup,com/jupiter/press/reieases/1998; Pew ResearchCenter, "One-in-Ten Voters Online for Campaign '96," available athttp://www.people-press.org.

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25. UCLA Internet Report, "Surveying theDigital Future: Year Three/'available at iittp://www.ccp,ucla.edu, February 2003.

26. Ryan, "Blogs' Rise Stymies,"27. Glenn Reynolds, 2003, e-mail correspondence.28. Amis, "Web Logs: Online Navel Gazing?"29. Doug Bedell, " War Blogs Add Personal Edge to the News," The

Dallas Morning News, http://www.dailasnews.com, 4 April 2003.30. Carver, "What Would Dewey Do?"; Seipp, "Online Uprising."31. Cristol, "News in the Digital Age,"32. Ken Sai-ids, "New Technologies, New Voices, New Empower-

ment? Blogs and Other Forms of Interactive Journalism" (panel pre-sented at the annual meeting of the AEJMC, Kansas City, July 2003);Laura Sydell, "Web Logs the Newest Way to Convey War Information,"Weekend Edition, National Public Radio, 29 March 2003.

33. Glenn Reynolds, "A Technological Transformation," http://222,techcentralstation.com,13February2003; Amis, "Online Navel Gaz-ing?"

34. Seipp, "Online Uprising,"35. Seipp, "Online Uprising."36. Melissa A. Wall, "'Blogs over Baghdad': Postmodern Journalism

& the Iraqi War" (paper presented to the Global Fusion Conference,October 2003).

37. Metxger et ai., "Credibility for the 21st Century."38. J.D. Lasica, "Weblogs: A New Source of News," in We've Got Blog:

How Weblogs are Changing Our Cuiture, ed. Rebecca Blood (Cambridge,MA: Perseus Publishing), 171-82; Ryan, "Blogs' Rise Stymies."

39. Howard Kiu'tz, "How Webiogs Keep the Media Honest,"http://www.washingtonpost.com, 31 July 2002.

40. Rosenberg, "Much Ado About Blogging"; Seipp," Online Upris-ing,"

41. Rosenberg, "Much Ado About Blogging."42. Steven Levy, "Will tho Biogs Kill Old Media?" Newsweek, 20 May

2002, 52.43. Thomas J.Johnson and Barbara K. Kaye, "Webelievability: A Path

Mode! Examining How Convenience and Reliance Predict Online Cred-ibility," Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 79 (autumn 2002):619-42; Thomas J.Johnson and Barbara K,Kaye, "I Heard itTtirough theInternet: Factors That Determine Online Credibility Among PoliticallyInterested Internet Users," in Advances iu Communication and MediaResearch, ed. A.V. Stavros (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2002),181-202; Johnsoi-i and Kaye, "Cruising is Believing?"; Johnson and Kaye,"Using is Believing."

44. Media Studies Center, "Cybercampaigns Preach to Choir," TheMedia & Campaign '96, Briefing No. 1 (NY: Media Studies Center, 1996), 8-10.

43. Barbara K. Kaye and Thomas J. Johnson, "From Here to Obscu-rity? Media Substitution Theory and Traditional Media in an On-lineWorld," journal of Ihe American Society for Information Science and Technol-ogy 54 (February 2003): 260-73; Carolyn A. Lin, "Audience Attributes,Media Supplementation, and Likely Online Service Adoption," Mass

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Communication & Society 5 (autumn 2001): 19-38; Barbara K. Kaye, "Usesand Gratifications of the World Wide Web: From Coach Potato to WebPotato," Nezo jerseif journal of Communication 6 (spring 1998): 21-40.

46. W. J. Potter, Media Literacy (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publica-tions, 1998); Andrew J, Flanagin and Miriam J. Metzger, "Perceptions ofInternet Information Credibility," journalism & Mass CommnnicationQuarterly 77 (autumn 2000): 515-40.

47. Erica Weintraub Austin and Qingwen Dong, "Source v. ContentEffects of Judgments of News Believability," journalism Quarterly 91(winter 1994): 973-83; Wayne Wanta and Yu-Wei Hu, "The Effects ofCredibility, Reliance and Exposure on Media Agenda-setting: A PathAnalysis Model," journalism Quarterly 71 (spring 1994): 90-98; Johnsonand Kaye, "Using is Believing"; Johnson and Kaye, "Cruising is Believ-ing?"

48. Richard F. Carter and Bradley S. Greenberg, "Newspapers orTelevision: Which Do You Believe?" Journalism Quarterh/ 42 (winter1965): 29-34; Tony Rimmer and David Weaver, "Different Questions,Different Answers? Media Use and Media Credibility," journalism Quar-terly 64 (spring 1987): 28-36,44.

49. Jennifer D. Greer, "Evaluating theCredibility of Online Informa-tion: A Test of Source and Advertising Influence," Mass Communication& Society 6 (winter 2003): 11-28.

50. Thomas. J. Johnson and Barbara K. Kaye, "The World Wide Webof Sports: A Patli Model Examining How Online Gratifications andReliance Predict Credibility of Online Sports Information (paper pre-sented at the annual meeting of AEjMC, Kansas City, August 2003);Johnson and Kaye, "Webelievability."

51. Kiousis, "Public Trust or Mistrust?"52. Levy, "Will the Blogs Kill Old Media?"53. Jolinson and Kaye, "Webelievability."54. Thomas J. Johnson and Barbara K. Kaye, "A Boost or Bust for

Democracy?: How the Web Influenced Political Attitudes and Behaviorsin the 1996 and 2000 Presidential Elections," Harvard international journalof Press/Politics 8 (summer 2003): 9-34; Thomas P. Boyle, "Web andTraditional Media Use in the2000 Presidential Election (paper presentedat the annual meeting of the AEJMC, Washington, DC, August 2001);Erik P. Bucy, Paul D'Angelo, and John E. Newhagen, "The EngagedElectorate: New Media Use as Political Participation," in The ElectronicElection Perspectives on 1996 Campaign Communication, ed. Lynda LeeKaid and Dianne G. Bystrom (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associ-ates), 335-47; Thomas J. Johnson and Barbara K. Kaye, "A Vehicle forEngagement or a Haven for the Disaffected?: Internet Use, PoliticalAlienation and Voter Participation," in Engaging the Public: Hozv Coz'erihment and the Media Can Reiiwigorate American Democraci/, ed, Thomas J.Johnson, Carol E. Hays, and Scott P. Hays (Lanham, MD: Rowman &Littlefield, 1998), 123-35; Thomas J. Johnson and Barbara K, Kaye,"Democracy's Rebirth or Demise? The Influence of the Internet onPolitical Attitudes," in It's Shoiv Time!Media, Politics, and Popular Culture,ed. David A. Schultz (New York: Peter Lang, 2000), 209-228.

55. Kevui A Hill and John E. Hughes, Cyberpolitics: Citizen Actiznsm hi

WAami.Bur. 639

tiie Age ofthe Internet (Laniiam, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998); JohnKatz, "The Digital Citizen," Wired. December 1997, 274-75.

56. David Tewksbury and Scott L. Alhaus, "Differences in Knowl-edge Acquisition among Readers of the Paper and Online Versions of aNational Newspaper," journalism & Mass Coiinnunication Quarterly 77(autumn 2000): 457-79.

57. Johnson and Kaye, "WebeliL'\'ability."58. John Leo, "A Blog's Bark has a Bite," U.S. Nezvs & World Report, 13

May 2002, 48; Steve Levy, "Living in the Blog-osphere," Newsweek, 26August 2002, 42-25; Seipp, "Online Uprising."

59. Wheian, "In a Fog About Blogs."60. Johnson and Kaye, "Cruising is Believing?"61. Johnson and Kaye, "Using is Believing."62. Johnson and Kaye, "Webelievability."63. Andrew J. Flanagin and Miriam J. Metzger, "Tlie Perceived Cred-

ibility of Personal Web Page Information as Influenced by the Sex of theSource," Computers in Human Behavior 19 (2003): 6S3-701.

64. Thomas J. Johnson and Barbara K, Kaye, "For Whom the WebToils: How Internet Experience Predicts Web Reliance and Credibility,"Atlantic journal of Communication 12 (1, 2004): 19-45,

65. "Reader Demographics," http://www.andrewsuilivan.com;Wheian, "hi a Fog About Blogs"; Rainie, Fox and Fallows, "The Internetand the Iraq War,"

66. Weblogs - 2020hindsight, Ackackackcom, Across Atlantic,Africapundit, Agonist, Alphecca, Altercation, Alternet, Amish TecliSupport,Amishblogmo,AndrewOlmsted, AndrewSuIlivan,Apostablog,Atlanticblogcom, Atriosblogspotcom, Bag & Baggage, Balloon Juice,Baseball Musings, Behoid,blogspot, Biasbiogfodder, BlissfulKnowledge,Blogdex, Bloglogic, Blogosphere, Blogs Of War, Give Blogs4god,Blogtporg/K, Boingboingnet, BryonScott, Buck Stops Here, Cnn,com,Coid Fury, ComeOn, CoranteOnBlogging, Corantec, Corner On NRO,Counterrevolutionary,CraigsChamp,Crblogspot,CriticalMass, CutOnBias, Daily Dish, Daily Pundit, Daniel Drezner, Davespickscom,Daypopcom,Dead ParrotSociety, Dean Esmay, DocSearls,Docweblogs,DrudgeReport, Erablognet, Erin O'Connor, Ever Changing Select,Eyndenloo, Fark, Fat Guy, FreeRepublic, Geek-Chick, Glenn Reynolds,Goatsec, Greenfield, HanlonVision, Hierogrammate, HighClcar, Hoder,HomeiessGuy,HoosierReview, HPANA,HLuinet, idleType, lhodercoin,Instapundit, JdLasica,JD New Media Musings, Jeff Cooper, Jessica'sWell,JoanneJacobs,JonahGoidberg,JoshClaybourne,Journalsp,Jsnotesblogs,Leftcoastblog, Leuschke, LGF, Light Of Reason, Like A Hooligan's, LALivejounial, Lucianne, Matwyglesias.com, Mediaticblog, Melblogger,Metafilter, Metapop, Midwest Conservative, MouseMiisings, MSNBC,National Review, Newsweek,com. No. 2, Pencil, Ogloboc, OnBias,Parduedur, Pattern Recognition, Popdex, Post-Atomic, Poweriine,RachaelLucas, RealCIearPolitics, Rebecca Blood, Resurrections,Ritingonwall, Rjwest.com, Sassafrass, Seaofkitt, Shellen.com, Siiflay,Hraka, Slate, Slings and Arrows, SouthKnoxBubba, Suzanna Cornett,Tacitus, Tapped, Tim Blair, Uncorrelated,com, Unqualified Offering,Volokh Conspiracy, Warblogs, Winds Of Change, Zogbyblogspot.com.

640 joiiRNAiiiM & MASS CoMMuMc-sn

67. Bulletin Boards/Electronic Mailing Lists - Bloggingcommunity®Yahoo, Colorado Bloggers, Comp.Dcom.Telecom, Dfwblogs, Lds-PoIl@Yahoogroups.Com, Pinoybloggers, Salon Blogs Group,Telecomdigest, Theblosxom,Val-L, Webiogdeveloperusergroup,Weblogemailgroup, Weblogusersgroup, Yahoogroups-SyndicS

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71. Thesurvey'sfirstquestion asked respondents to enter their e-mailaddresses; 3,311 (88.4%) complied. The respondents' e-mail addressestogether with their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses (programmed toappear on every completed survey) wore used to delete duplicatedsurveys. Additionally, after sending the completed survey a Web pagewould immediately appear thanking the respondents for their participa-tion and verifying that the survey had been sent so respondents wouldnot retransmit the survey.

72. Rainie, Fox, and Fallows, "The Internet and the Iraq War"; Levy,"Living in the Blog-osphere"; Seipp, "Online Uprising."

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77. Tewksbury and Althaus, "Differences in Knowledge Acquisi-tion"; Flanagin and Metzger, "Perceptions of Internet Information Cred-ibility,"

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84. Johnson, Braima, and Sothirajah, "Doing the Traditional Media

Sidestep"; James B. Lemert, "The Audience for Candidate'Talk Show,'"in The Politics of Disenchantment, ed, William L. Rosenberg and James M.Bernstein (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1996), 73-100; Stephen EarlBennett, "Political Talk Radio Shows' Impact on Democratic Citizen-ship," in Engaging the Public: How Government and the Media Can Reinvigo-mftMf»(T/b7j;D[')i;(jr)V!(.-i/,ed. Thomas J.Johnson, Carol E. Hays, and ScottP. Hays (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1998), 111-21; Hofstetter et a!., "Political Talk Radio."

85. Barry A, Hollander, "Fuel to the Fire: Talk Radio and theGamsonHypothesis," Political Communication 14 (July 1997): 355-70.

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642 JOLIRK.MJSM & MASf CtlMWIt^lCAIICN QUAKTEKW