Media credibility and cognitive authority. The case of seeking orienting information

Introduction. This article results from a qualitative case study focusing on the information seeking practices of environmental activists. The main attention was devoted to their perceptions of media credibility and cognitive authority in the context of seeking orienting information about environmental issues in particular. Method. The empirical data were gathered in 2005 by semi-structured interviews with twenty environmental activists in Finland. Analysis. The interview data were examined by means of qualitative content analysis by constantly comparing the articulations of media credibility and cognitive authority. Results. The perceptions of media credibility and cognitive authority tend to be dependent on the topic at hand. No specific cognitive authorities were recognized. Sources providing focused information issued by environmental asssociations were perceived as most credible. Newspapers were perceived as less credible due to their political bias and the general level of news reporting. The significance of one's own critical reflection was emphasized in the judgement of the credibility of information sources of various types. Conclusion. Perceived media credibility and cognitive authority significantly, though often implicitly, orient the selection of information sources. There is a need also to explore their role in the context of seeking problem-specific information, both job-related and non-work

Preferences, trust and willingness to pay for food information: An analysis of the Italian Market

Lack of consumer trust and communication strategies are probably the main determinants of information failure in modern food markets. This study attempts to tackle these aspects affecting the quality of food information by investigating questions related to what topics are more relevant to consumers, who should disseminate trustful food information, and how communication should be conveyed. Primary data were collected both through qualitative (in depth interviews and focus groups) and quantitative research. Quantitative research was conducted by means of a questionnaire administered in 2006-2007 to a sample of Italian respondents using both a web and a traditional mail survey. Reading preferences, willingness to pay and trust towards public and private sources conveying information through a hypothetical food magazine were assessed combining factor analysis, choice modelling and a criterion-based market segmentation. The study shows that reading preferences of Italian consumers can be summarized along three dimensions: agro-food system, enjoyment and wellness. Furthermore, willingness to pay for receiving food-related information is influenced by trust towards the type of publisher, which plays also a key role in market segmentation together with socio-demographic and economic variables such as gender, age, presence of children and income. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.food information, trust, preference heterogeneity, segmentation, Italy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, D18, D89, Q18,

The Information Practices of People Living with Depression: Constructing Credibility and Authority

Depressive episodes and chronic depression often provide the impetus for both online and offline everyday life information-seeking and sharing and the seeking of support. While allopathic medication, psychiatric, and other biomedical services are the standard treatments for depression, people often use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to supplement or supplant biomedical treatments. Depression is a nebulous disorder with varying causes, illness trajectories, and a wide variety of potentially effective treatments. Often, treating and managing depression forms a project for life (Wikgren, 2001) where the need for information is continuous. In the present study, I have used a constructionist, discourse analytic approach as outlined by Potter (1996) and Wooffitt (1992) to analyze the messages posted to three online newsgroups devoted to depression, CAM, and the practices of biomedicine and to analyze the transcripts from 10 semi-structured interviews with participants who self-identified as currently having depression or who have suffered from depression in the past. I have sought to understand how people justify using, or not using, CAM to treat depression. Specifically, I have investigated how people with depression use information in discourse to justify healthcare decisions and to create credible and authoritative accounts; how people with depression conceptualize CAM therapies, mainstream medicine, and depression and how these conceptualizations are represented in the discursive constructions of individuals as competent information-seekers and users; and I have investigated the information practices (e.g., everyday life information-seeking, sharing, and use) of people living with depression. My findings show that while expert, biomedical information sources and knowledge are most often drawn upon and referred to by newsgroup posters and interviewees to warrant claims, people used a variety of discursive strategies and regular speech patterns to create credible and authoritative accounts, to portray themselves as competent information-seekers and users, to support their claims for either using or foregoing a certain treatment, and to counter the authoritative knowledge of biomedicine. In addition, my findings emphasize the importance of orienting information discussed in Savolainen’s (1995) everyday life information-seeking (ELIS) model. For many people with depression, information was used to maintain a sense of coherence (related to “mastery of life” within the ELIS model) and to create meaning in addition to solving practical problems. My findings suggest that an additional information-seeking principle to those outlined by Harris and Dewdney (1994) deserves further research attention: people seek information that is congruent with their worldview and values

Epistemic vs non-epistemic criteria to assess Wikipedia articles: evolution of young people perceptions

International audienceThis paper tackles the problem of information credibility assessment by users, focusing on Wikipedia articles. We consider both epistemic and non-epistemic criteria. We conducted a study using a questionnaire where 841 French young people aged from 11 to 25 years participated and we analysed the results considering the level of education as a variable. We found that the higher the level of education is, the more young people mention epistemic credibility criteria and the less they indicate non-epistemic criteria. We draw some recommendation for information literacy

Introduction to the Volume on Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility

This chapter argues that understanding credibility is particularly complex -- and consequential -- in the digital media environment, especially for youth audiences, who have both advantages and disadvantages due to their relationship with contemporary technologies and their life experience. The chapter explains what is, and what is not, new about credibility in the context of digital media and discusses the major thrusts of current credibility concerns for scholars, educators, and youth

The MAIN Model: A Heuristic Approach to Understanding Technology Effects on Credibility

Part of the Volume on Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility Historically, credibility assessments assume a relatively explicit, effortful evaluation of message source and content, but this chapter argues that four technological features -- modality, agency, interactivity, and navigability -- can profoundly influence credibility judgments that are made more subtly and automatically while accessing information. Based on research evidence that suggests today's youth pay more attention to these technological aspects than to source and content aspects, this chapter examines the ways in which they may shape credibility perceptions during digital media use. These features are conceptualized as "affordances" (or action possibilities) that suggest certain functions and/or transmit certain cues that trigger cognitive heuristics (or mental shortcuts) leading people to their impressions of the quality and credibility of the underlying information

‘Fake news’ is the invention of a liar: How false information circulates within the hybrid news system

Alarmed by the oversimplifications related to the ‘fake news’ buzzword, researchers have started to unpack the concept, defining diverse types and forms of misleading news. Most of the existing works in the area consider crucial the intent of the content creator in order to differentiate among different types of problematic information. This article argues for a change of perspective that, by leveraging the conceptual framework of sociocybernetics, shifts from exclusive attention to creators of misleading information to a broader approach that focuses on propagators and, as a result, on the dynamics of the propagation processes. The analytical implications of this perspective are discussed at a micro level (criteria to judge the falsehood of news and to decide to spread it), at a meso level (four possible relations between individual judgements and decisions), and at a macro level (global circulation cascades). The authors apply this theoretical gaze to analyse ‘fake news’ stories that challenge existing models