In the paper, “EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF MODALITY ON PERCEPTIONS OF CREDIBILITY FOR ONLINE NEWS STORIES,” Spiro Kiousis explores the ways in which different modes of communication and varying levels of interactivity in news stories influence a user’s perception of the credibility of the source.

In order to evaluate this, Kiousis had a sample of users read an article about the Olympics in China, and different people received different versions of the same story. Through this experiment, it was found that modality did not have a significant influence on users, however, they found that more multimedia elements give a reader an increased perception of credibility. Kiousis argued, “a positive main effect on perceived source credibility was observed when participants used multimedia content that was available in certain versions of the story.” From this, it can be concluded that the reader’s sense of credibility is directly related to how engaged they are with the content. Since everyone has different learning styles, incorporating visual and audio story-telling elements in an article will broaden overall comprehension, and allow it to cater to wider audiences. When information is easily digestible and able to be converted into different multimedia formats, it is easier to believe that the source is knowledgeable and reliable, because they were accurately able to distill and translate the information. 

This finding supports the contemporary notion that viewers are not passive recipients of information. Message receivers have the ability to interpret information, therefore, giving them an active and engaging role in media consumption gives them a better perception of the source and the message. Even though the study did not necessarily prove that message modality influences audience perception of credibility, it did prove Kiousis’s initial thesis that, “participation increases perceived credibility (which) is also supported by research probing other modes of communication.”