Casting Credibility: Patterns of Audience Assessment of TV News Programs

Omar O. Dumdum; Ma. Criselda A. Garcia

Omar O. Dumdum National Economic and Development Authority
Ma. Criselda A. Garcia University of the Philippines

Abstract

This study describes the patterns of television (TV) viewers' assessment of news program credibility by utililzing secondary data from a survey of 1,100 Metro Manila respondents. Through principal component analyses and multiple regressions, the survey reveals that certain attributes of newscasters/reporters, interviewed sources,a nd news content/programming are significantly associated with three dimensions of news program credibility - competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill. It also finds that viewers within specific demographic attributes tend to give high credibility ratings for TV news programs. Implications on TV news broadcasting in the Philippines are discussed.

Keywords: television, news, credibility, principal component analysis