Credibility in live blogs
Events are increasingly being reported on live. Disasters, court cases, sports events and elections can all be followed online from minute-to-minute in both text and image. What do journalists do to make their reports credible? What effect do these efforts have on the public? In short: how is journalistic credibility achieved in immediate circumstances?
Objective
Classic credibility studies focus on the sender, the communication channel or the message. However, online network effects determine credibility too. Readers themselves set to work with the information presented to them.
In this PhD research, we argue that credibility is not a product, but the outcome of a process between journalists and the public. The objective of this research is to establish journalistic credibility strategies and to assess their acceptance (or rejection) by the public.
Results
This research is ongoing. Once completed, the research results will be summarised here. During the research project, Sebastiaan van der Lubben wrote a number of blogs (dutch), including:
- Ik kwam, zag en deed verslag (dutch)
- Onmiddellijkheid is subjectiever (dutch)
- Genrevervuiling: liveblog KPN-storing (dutch)
- Bloggen over boeven - maar hoe lang nog? (dutch)
- Livebloggen in 280 tekens (dutch)
Duration
01 December 2018 - 01 December 2022
Approach
The following three methods are used in this research:
- Genre analysis (of live blogs);
- Content analysis (of the credibility achieved);
- Semi-experiments (on accepted credibility).
HU researchers involved in the research
Collaboration with knowledge partners
This research is being conducted under the auspices of Prof. J. de Jong and W. Koetsenruijter PhD, both from Leiden University.
