9/16 ” Exploring the Impact of Modality on Perceptions of Credibility for Online News Stories” – Bridget Hall

In Exploring the Impact of Modality on Perceptions of Credibility for Online News Stories, by Spiro Kiousis, he discusses his findings after testing how much of an impact modality has on source and message credibility. 

 

Kiousis defines credibility as “ the use of text, graphics, sound, and video on a single communication platform.” He writes that adding elements, such as pictures, animation, sound, and video, may elevate a news article and make it more appealing to read but these elements are not useful unless the individual clicks on the elements and views them. He explains that  “users who ‘‘participate’’ by actively using multimedia content as opposed to those ‘‘observing’’ it will report higher levels of perceived credibility.” In other words, those who make use of the multimedia elements find the news article more credible and useful than those who just skim past the elements while reading.

Kiousis found that modality in news articles had “no direct effect on perceived source or message credibility.” He mentioned that further research would be needed to develop a thesis on the topic. 

It was interesting to learn that only students were used in the initial testing. Although Kiousis mentions how much students use the Internet, this experiment only tested a small percentage of the world’s Internet users. I am intrigued to see whether modality would have an impact on a different age group of Internet users. 

In addition, I do have some doubts about the experiment in general. I believe that multimedia elements have different effects on all individual’s perceptions of credibility. Not every multimedia element will have the same effect on people in the same age group. Lastly, putting modality aside, the source of the news article is very telling in today’s society as well. The U.S. is so politically polarized, especially in the media. I fear that the source of the news could have much more influence on an individual’s perception of credibility than modality can. 

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