Stereotypes and sexism? Effects of gender, topic, and user comments on journalists’ credibility

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21719086
AutoresMario Haim (0000-0002-0643-2299, Leipzig University, autor correspondente), Kim Maurus (Leipzig University)
Ano2023
Volume24
Fascículo7
Páginas1442-1461
Data de publicação2023-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournalism (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14648849211063994
OpenAlexW4206413097
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas10
Referências citadas43

Gendered social roles raise assumptions about what female and male journalists ought to do. Prior studies have suggested that covering counter-stereotypical topics may decrease journalists’ source and their work’s message credibility. Pertaining also to prior studies on heuristic cues for credibility evaluation, user comments have been shown to serve as corrective, both positively and negatively affecting the perception of accompanying content. In an online survey with 417 German participants, we employed a 3 (author: female, male, and computer) × 2 (topic: stereotypically masculine and feminine) × 2 (comments: sexist and non-sexist) experimental design to investigate source and message credibility. Findings do not show differences in gender perception but between human authors (either female or male) and a computer (the control group). Covering counter-stereotypical topics indicates slightly less credibility for men and women if presented with non-sexist comments. In turn, sexist comments lead to slightly higher credibility, suggesting more elaborate engagement with sexism-affected content

Credibility · German · Perception · Political science · Social perception · Source credibility · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology