Designing Media Credibility Assessment Model: Case Study, Iran TV. News Program

Several studies and researches have been conducted in the world since 1950 to assess and evaluate the media news credibility, and in this regard the researches tried to investigate the media news from different angles. The finding of any such researches and studies quite indicate that the credibility is a multidimensional construct and thus, a reliable and successful survey in this connection is fully dependent on a multidimensional approach towards the matter in question. The present research is going to answer to some basic questions with due regard to the latent variables of the credibility, and those basic questions are to include: What are those variables upon which the credibility of TV news program are to be assessed? Is there any meaningful relationship between those variables and media credibility? How do audiences perceive the credibility of TV news program? To achieve this, first, the principal dimensions of credibility have been determined. In the next step the author used the multistage sampling method and distributed 1013 questionnaire to collect the research data. Finally, by using “confirmatory factor analysis”, “multiple regressions” and “one sample t test”, the collected research data have been analyzed. All of findings in this research fully indicate of a meaningful relationship between the credibility and the message, source, audience and human factor of communication model characteristics.