The effect of online news delivery platform on elements in the communication process: An experimental investigation

Abstract

Purpose

Does the same news item on three different online news platforms, namely: newspapers, blogs and video news, impact each of perceived source credibility, likeability, content believability and attitude toward a message, differently? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

An experimental approach conducted among university students is adopted.

Findings

The psychometric properties of the instruments used are supported. Results showed that source credibility did not differ for the three platforms, indicating that respondents did not find one platform less credible than another. However, differences were observed on each of content believability, likeability and attitude toward the message. Online newspapers scored highest in all of these. Blogs came second in both content believability and likeability, while video news came second in attitude toward a message.

Research limitations/implications

A number of limitations are noted. In particular, generalisability of findings to all youths in the country and beyond must be done with extreme caution.

Practical implications

The results suggest that the medium does change the message and online newspapers as a platform retain an advantage despite the arrival of alternative new media platforms, represented by blogs and video news. The latter emerges as the least effective indicating that respondents appear to prefer reading their news.

Originality/value

The paper uses an experimental approach and robust measures to compare news platforms across a number of elements in the communication process among a strong user segment.

Citation

Caruana, J. (2013), "The effect of online news delivery platform on elements in the communication process: An experimental investigation", Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 233-244. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-09-2013-0036