Media Credibility and Journalistic Role Conceptions: Views on Citizen and Professional Journalists among Citizen Contributors

Abstract

This study identifies citizen journalists' role conceptions regarding their news contributing activities and their perceptions of professional journalists' roles. Specifically, the ethical criterion of media credibility was assessed to identify predictors on their perceptions of roles. Analyses reveal citizen journalists perceive their roles to be generally similar to professional journalists and even rated certain roles more prominently for themselves. Further, their perceptions of media credibility were found to function as a core belief in how they assessed their roles and also those of professional journalists, which has implications for a system of open ethics.