Conceptual Understanding of Media Credibility

Assessment of Media Credibility

It is generally believed that "credibility" corresponds to the English word credibility, which literally means "trustworthiness". In communication science, credibility refers to the audience's perception of the believability of the communicator. Therefore, credibility is not completely objective, it emphasizes the subjective judgment of the receiver of the information on the information/source.

Traditionally, credibility has two major components: trustworthiness (degree of believability) and expertise (professional authority), which are also not completely objective. In political communication, credibility refers to the audience's comprehensive perception of the communicator's power legitimacy, administrative effectiveness, professional authority and charisma. In short, credibility is not a completely objective standard; it is largely a subjective judgment that varies from person to person and from place to place.

Media credibility refers to the quality and ability of media to win the general trust of specific target groups. The reason for emphasizing "specific target group" here is that the credibility of the media changes according to time and space. In other words, a media that enjoys a good reputation among one target group may be disreputable among other audience groups, especially at the international level. In general, the credibility (credibility) of a communicator is directly proportional to the effectiveness of its communication. This does not mean, however, that less reputable communicators (including the media) are less influential, as there are both positive and negative latitudes of communication effectiveness. Certain tabloids (newspapers) with a poor reputation but a very large circulation are also often extremely lethal. In political communication, smear tactics are despicable but very effective.

From a practical point of view, it is important to break down media credibility. Taking the Chinese media as an example, we should distinguish between its domestic and international credibility, as well as the credibility of media of different natures, such as the official media and the market-oriented media, the national media and the local media, the traditional media and the emerging media, etc. We should also distinguish the credibility of the media in different social classes. It is also necessary to distinguish the credibility of the media in different social strata. This is largely true for Western media as well. In some cases, the domestic and international credibility of the media are basically the same, but in some cases they are not the same, or even far apart.