ABSTRACT

This three-study project sought to test how news organizations can boost perceptions of credibility of their news outlet by improving journalistic transparency. Three experiments (Study 1: n = 753; Study 2: n = 599; Study 3: n = 321) tested whether adding a transparency box to news stories that explained why and how journalists covered each story would improve credibility perceptions. Study 1 used a mock news site, and the box did not increase credibility perceptions. Study 2 made the box more prominent and used the real audiences of two news sites, USA TODAY and the Tennessean, and the box increased credibility perceptions. Study 3 used a less prominent box on the real audiences of three McClatchy newspapers, and the box did not increase credibility perceptions regardless of where it was placed on the news story. Results suggest transparency boxes may have limited influence on news outlet credibility, but they must be very prominent to have an effect and do not work consistently.

摘要

这个三项研究项目旨在测试新闻机构如何通过提高新闻透明度来提高对其新闻媒体可信度的认识。三个实验（研究 1：n = 753；研究 2：n = 599；研究 3：n = 321）测试是否在新闻故事中添加一个透明框来解释记者为什么以及如何报道每个故事会提高可信度。研究 1 使用了一个模拟新闻网站，该框并没有增加可信度。研究 2 使盒子更加突出，并使用了今日美国和田纳西州这两个新闻网站的真实受众，并且盒子增加了可信度. 研究 3 在三份 McClatchy 报纸的真实受众中使用了一个不太显眼的框，并且无论放在新闻报道的哪个位置，该框都不会增加可信度。结果表明，透明度框可能对新闻媒体可信度的影响有限，但它们必须非常突出才能产生效果并且不能始终如一地发挥作用。