Factors that Influence Credibility

In this high competitive world one must incessantly evaluate the information one receives from news papers, magazines, television programs, movies, television news reporting, the internet and advertising. Frequent information presented to the public contains biases or misleading information that can persuade the public to take a position or action without reasonable cause. At times one can be mystified about what information to believe or distrust. Thus, knowing what factors influence the credibility of each source is essential.

The vital factors that influence credibility of newspapers are the decline in newspaper sales, advertising, ownership of the newspaper agencies, and inaccuracy. Newspaper sales and readings are declining. This decline causes newspaper agencies to push for sales. The push for sales may cause journalists to over sensationalize stories to get the attention of readers. The newspaper agencies' fear of losing revenue from advertising influences what they do and do not print. Ownership of newspaper agencies can cause journalists to avoid printing harmful news about their owners. All too often newspaper readers find misspelled words, grammatical errors and factual errors in newspapers. One reason journalist give for these errors is, "...a combination of being "overworked" and "understaffed" is the major contributing factor to mistakes..." (The American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1999, p.1). The credibility of newspapers is also declining along with the creditability of other various media.

The most important factors that affect the credibility of magazines are advertising and sales. According to Issues and Controversies, "Many media outlets, especially print media sources such as magazines, are facing increasing pressure from advertisers to modify their news stories or risk losing advertising revenue" (Issues and Controversies On File, 1998, p.1). The severe competition for magazine sales also causes magazines to exaggerate or misconstrue their stories. Other factors that can affect the credibility of magazines are the journalists. Journalists may slant or leave out information to fit their ideologies.

There are various genres of television programming. Television programming can vary form news to cooking shows. TV programs also exaggerate and over sensationalize their stories to grab the attention of viewers. Between television programming are advertising. "In a sense, TV programs are basically a means to get people to watch commercials" (Cyber College Internet Campus, 2007, paragraph 8). These factors of advertising and the competition for viewers affect the credibility of television programming. Other factors that may manipulate reliability in television programming are sponsors, owners and directors. These influences may cause bias ranging from race, sex, religion, conservative, liberals and so forth.

Movies are well known to contain various biases and biases affect the credibility of movies. Multiple movies contain racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender, and religious biases. Numerous movies present minorities in a stereotypical and unfavorable image. These biases reflect the ideologies of directors and the sources of revenue. Movies are also often exaggerated and distorted when presenting actual events that causes a threat to trustworthiness.

Television news reporting has several factors that influence credibility. The most important factors are the desire for higher audience ratings, competition for viewers and inaccuracy in events. Television news is known to, "...have become increasingly willing to exaggerate news stories or highlight violent crime in order to draw viewers..." (Issues and Controversies On File, 2002, p.7). Television news reporting's intense competition for audience has caused journalists to report yellow journalism, muckrakers and inaccuracy. Therefore, one must not believe everything that one sees or hears.

The internet has innumerable amounts of information. The internet allows one to access information from all over the world. The internet is accessible world-wide. The internet consists of innumerable credible information along with implausible information. Factors that influence internet credibility are trustworthiness and expertise. Does the source have good intention? Is the source honest and unbiased? Is the author an experienced professional on the source's topic? Another factor, that influences the credibility of the internet, is that anyone can post her or his own website. They can claim that the website is trustworthy. Thus, it is vital that one evaluates the sources taken from the internet.

Advertisers use various methods to persuade the public to purchase their products or services. Advertisers know how to make their products and services appealing without sufficient information. "Advertising is designed to generate a need to buy certain brand-name products, which may be more expensive than lesser-known brands, while not being significantly better (Cyber College Internet Campus, 2007, paragraph 8)." The fact that advertising will fallaciously depict or appeal to one emotions to sell a product is the most essential factor that affect credibility. Thus, before one commits to a product or service one must thoroughly examine all the details.

Critically evaluating the information one receives is essential. Knowing what factors sway the credibility of sources will enable one to analyze received information effectively. Thus, one will be able to take a position or take action on certain topics or events effectively. Comprehending the integrity of sources will greatly benefit all. Everyone has her or his own thoughts and perceptions on events, topics, products and so forth. Therefore, do not let the fallacies or biases of sources fog one's judgments.

References

Accuracy Matters. (1999, August 03). The American Society of News Paper Editors. Retrieved

April 18, 2007, from www.

Asne.org/kiosk/reports/99reports/1999examiningourcredibility/P7-10_Accuracy.html

Do Advertisers Influence Editorial Content? (1998, April 17). Issues and Controversies On File.

Retrieved April 18, 2007, from Issues and Controversies @ FACTS.com database.

Media Bias. (2202, April 30). Issues and Controversies On File. Retrieved April 18, 2007, from

Issues and Controversies @ FACTS.com database.

The Social Impact of Television. (2007, February 16). Cyber College Internet Campus.

Retrieved April 18, 2007, from http://www.internetcampus.com/frtv/frtv032.htm