University Research: Credibility of New vs. Traditional Media Methods

This report delves into the credibility of new versus traditional media, exploring the impact of social media on news consumption and the evolving role of journalism. The research employs a series of questions to analyze the perceptions of credibility among people and journalists, the influence of n...Read More

Running head: RESEARCH METHODS
Research Methods
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

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Table of Contents
Explanation of the research topic...............................................................................................2
Methodology description...........................................................................................................3
Importance of the research questions.........................................................................................5
Methodology review..................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Explanation of the research topic
In the current decade there has been an overdependence upon media and its resources
for the collection and gathering of information. The current assignment discusses the
credibility of news media over the current media, which is based upon social media
technologies. A current revolution has been brought about in the manner of reporting news
owing to the emergence of social media. Journalism and news media are based upon
credibility (Takahashi et al. 2016). The mainstream journalists in the traditional news media
have a negative attitude towards internet mode of news delivery. The resentful attitude has
been used by the traditional media and journalists for bringing about changes within the
traditional print media. Some of these are provided in the form of changed marketing plans
where free monthly subscriptions to magazines are provided along with newspapers. The
assignment discusses the credibility of the new and traditional media for the people as well as
the journalists. With the emergence of social media people are just a click away from getting
the daily doses of the national and international news. The digital media has made the
availability of new easier over some of the platforms such as Google newsstand, yahoo new,
social media platforms. On the other hand, the dependence upon traditional new media is
getting reduced day by day. It is only a handful of people who are purchasing news articles in
the print form as it is seen as an additional liability where one has to visit the local newsstand
to collect the hard copy of the newspaper (Swasy et al. 2015). There has been rising a
concern within the newspaper industry regarding the number of people who turns to the radio
stations for news along with the ones relying upon television media for gathering and
collection of sufficient information (Jahng and Littau 2016). The ability of the internet
technologies to provide news in much real time has made it more credible compared to other

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sources. As mentioned by Takahashi et al. (2015), penetrance and growing reliance on
internet has further made it the trusted source for collection of information.
However, as argued by Perko et al. (2015), there are a number of disadvantages of
overdependence upon social media or present day media for the collection of news or
information. This could be attributed to the anonymity of the sender of the new information
over social media. Few may take an advantage of the anonymity to forward fabricated news
or information (Paulussen and Harder 2014).
In this regard, a number of research methods and tests have been conducted in order
to analyse the credibility of social media over news media. It has been mentioned on an eight
pointers scale which includes items such as –clear, bias, accurate, believable, trust, timeless,
fairness as well as telling the entire story. As argued by Westerman et al. (2014), traditional
media still hold its glitter in the current age of social media. The internet has credibility issues
where much of the news presented over social media platforms are product of compounded
hysteria and has much myths over facts (Weimann and Brosius 2015). The news spread
through social media are usually spread through word of mouth promotion and is backed
up by little or no research.
Methodology description
For the current research, a number of questions have been designed pertaining to the
topic of current and traditional media and their credibility as accessed by people and
journalists. In order to conduct the analysis a main research question has been designed
which has been broken down in series of sub-questions. The chain of questions helps in
highlighting the contradictory views, which further helps in making the research stronger.
Some of the research questions have been presented below as follows:

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Q.1. How is the perception of credibility regarding new and traditional media viewed
differently by people and journalists?
This question helps in highlighting the different opinions possessed by people as well as
journalists regarding the contribution and credibility of media within the society.
Q. 1.1. How has the emergence of new media affected the survivability standards of the
traditional media?
Therefore, the question helps in highlighting the effect of one form of media on the
survivability of the other form of media.
Q. 1.2. How strongly has the new media influenced the reflex action within the people and
the journalists?
The question helps in highlighting the psychological influence of particular media and news
on the society.
Q. 1.3. Does the commercialization of new media affect the social and ethical norms of the
society considerably?
The question helps in highlighting the cultural and legal responsibilities of the newspapers.
Q. 1.4. Does the over dependence upon technologies damage the printing and distribution
rights of the print media?
The question helps in highlighting the effect of new media upon the functionality of the
traditional media.
Q.2. what are the social contributions of traditional media and how do they affect the thinking
patterns of people?

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The questions help in analysing the manner in which the traditional media have shaped up the
thinking patterns of people gradually. The traditional news media possess a huge social
responsibility as they serve as the channels for provision of effective information to the
public regarding important changes in government and social policies. The traditional media
channels are still as the official format used by the government for dissemination of important
notices to the public.
Q.2.1. How credible is the research methods used by traditional media for collection and
gathering of news?
The questions help in highlighting the credibility of the research methods used for the
traditional media.
Q. 2.2. Which specific age groups are more inclined to the use of traditional media over
current media and why?
The question takes into consideration several demographics and the manner in which they
affect the sale of a newspaper.
Q. 2.2. What are the steps taken by traditional media to increase the sales of traditional print
newspapers over digital media?
The question helps in highlighting the manner in which the resentment against new media
of the traditional media journalists have been utilised in order to bring the effective changes.
Q. 2.3. Which particular credibility factors are used for comparison of the traditional media
with the new media?
The question helps in highlighting the different credibility factors which goes into shaping of
the mindset of people and journalists alike in their partiality towards a particular medium.

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Importance of the research questions
The question 1 is important as it helps in bringing onto the surface the different
contradictory views, where the people are of the opinion that the new media can provide wide
variety of news in much real time. Additionally, it comes handy over the mobile device
which makes accessibility easier.
On the other hand, the traditional journalists has questioned the credibility of the
new media saying that much of the news and facts presented over there are overhyped and
fabricated which generates hysteria within the society. This has been further related to
question 1.1 where the emergence of the new media has increased market competition for the
traditional media as more and more people are using the digital space for the collection of
relevant news over the printed materials. The question 1.3 highlights that the emergence
of social media scoops has given rise to rumoured culture where the news are spread
through social media platforms such as facebook and twitter through word of mouth
promotions and often the stories are fabricated to generate strong reactions. The question
1.3 is important as it highlights that the commercialization of the new media can affect the
confidentiality regulations attached to high profile arenas of the country such as military and
intelligence services.
The question no. 2 helps in understanding that the overdependence upon digital
media could damage the distribution and printing rights of the traditional media as much
of the new is already disseminated over the social networking sites in fabricated format
before they are even disclosed by the print media. question 2.1 highlights the credibility of
research methods of traditional news ,where the traditional media conducts sufficient
field research for gathering and presentation of sufficient facts and figures, which helps in
the presentation of actual case scenario. Question 2.2 help in understanding the
demographics where the age group from 45-60 are more inclined to the use of traditional

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media over current form of media (Lecheler and Kruikemeier 2016). This could be attributed
to their comfort over reading a hard copy of news rather than downloading apps to read news.
Methodology review
The questions have been developed in a chain set up where the answer to one question
becomes the question for the next question. Additionally, the open ended questionnaires
provide sufficient space for expansion which could be utilised further to develop the research.
Additionally, the responses provided are grouped into similar and dissimilar themes which
help in expanding upon the problem situation. This methodology of conducting a research is
in lieu with secondary mode of research where the research questions are proposed through a
number of hypotheses. The evaluation through the hypotheses helps in arriving at a
significant result.

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References
Graefe, A., Haim, M., Haarmann, B. and Brosius, H.B., 2016. Readers’ perception of
computer-generated news: Credibility, expertise, and readability. Journalism, p.269.
Jahng, M.R. and Littau, J., 2016. Interacting is believing: Interactivity, social cue, and
perceptions of journalistic credibility on twitter. Journalism & Mass Communication
Quarterly, 93(1), pp.38-58.
Lecheler, S. and Kruikemeier, S., 2016. Re-evaluating journalistic routines in a digital age: A
review of research on the use of online sources. New Media & Society, 18(1), pp.156-171.
Paulussen, S. and Harder, R.A., 2014. Social media references in newspapers: Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube as sources in newspaper journalism. Journalism Practice, 8(5), pp.542-
551.
Perko, T., Mays, C., Valuch, J. and Nagy, A., 2015. Mass and new media: review of framing,
treatment and sources in reporting on Fukushima. J. Mass Commun. Journalism, 5, p.252.
Scott, D.M., 2015. The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online
video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers
directly. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, pp.331.
Swasy, A., Tandoc, E., Bhandari, M. and Davis, R., 2015. Traditional reporting more credible
than citizen news. Newspaper Research Journal, 36(2), pp.225-236.
Takahashi, B. and Tandoc Jr, E.C., 2016. Media sources, credibility, and perceptions of
science: Learning about how people learn about science. Public Understanding of
Science, 25(6), pp.674-690.

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Weimann, G. and Brosius, H.B., 2015. A new agenda for agenda-setting research in the
digital era. In Political Communication in the Online World (pp. 42-60). Routledge.
Westerman, D., Spence, P.R. and Van Der Heide, B., 2014. Social media as information
source: Recency of updates and credibility of information. Journal of Computer
‐Mediated
Communication, 19(2), pp.171-183.