Shannon McEnerney | Feb. 16, 2010
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| Tom Johnson of Texas Tech spoke Monday about his research into credibility and political information. |
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Johnson, who is a professor of journalism at Texas Tech University, spoke about his recent research project, “Dark Side of the Boon: Credibility, selective exposure and the proliferation of online sources of political information,” during a lunchtime talk in Ernie Pyle lounge Monday. He was visiting campus as the guest of the school and professor Lars Willnat.
Most of Johnson’s research revolves around the effects of online and traditional media, and he has looked at the uses and effects of these different media outlets through each of the presidential elections since 1996.
“I always thought that Hanging Chads would be a great name for a rock band,” Johnson joked, referring to the 2000 election when the perforated paper ballots were an issue.
Johnson said he also is interested in how the role of the media and the role of the online media affect the democratic process. Through his research, Johnson has explored how the traditional media sources (print publications, TV, radio) compare with the newer non-traditional media sources, such as blogs and other online outlets.
These research interests led Johnson to his current project. Selective exposure, he explained, is when someone seeks out information that supports his or her viewpoint while avoiding information that challenges it. He is interested in how selective exposure plays a role with the Internet and how some sides are portrayed more than others at certain times.
This topic led Johnson to discuss credibility in the media and how the traditional forms of media are now becoming blurred with the new, online media sources.
“Credibility is a most valuable asset, but some scholars say there is a dark side to credibility because it is linked to selective exposure,” Johnson said.
Perceptions of credibility of a source could lead to selective exposure, but few have tested this, despite speculation, Johnson said.
Through a survey that was posted online two weeks before and two weeks after the 2008 election, Johnson researched the results. The respondents were asked their perceptions of credibility of online venues, such as blogs, and how much they relied on political Web sites. If the respondents viewed blogs as credible, the research hypothesized that they would be more likely to exercise selective exposure.
What Johnson’s research found was that while people sought out information that catered to their viewpoints, they also sought out information that didn’t; therefore, people were looking for a balance of information from different outlets.
“This study found little evidence of a dark side to credibility,” Johnson said. “The results of credibility parallel several other studies that have found while people do seek out selective exposure, they also seek out conflicting viewpoints.”
Now that his research is finished, Johnson said there are things he could have done differently. While the research attempts to discover whether people are avoiding information that doesn’t fit in with their interests and viewpoints, it doesn’t say why these people are avoiding certain information or seeking out certain information. Johnson said it would be helpful to add to the research why people may visit sites that go against their point of view.
“That would add a lot,” he said, noting that right now he can only assume people are seeking out information that goes against their viewpoints so they can know where the opposing side stands.
“When you tune in to watch Fox and CNN, it’s hard to see what people are responding to,” Johnson said.
It is interesting, too, Johnson said, to look at bloggers and the outlets they offer. A lot of bloggers, Johnson said, have contempt for the media, but at the same time, the media is the main source of the bloggers’ news. While bloggers may dislike The New York Times, at the same time these bloggers are reading that newspaper to gather news and fuel what they write about.
“They are people very strong in their point of view, and ones who rely heavily on traditional media but have little regard for it,” Johnson said.
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