Can News Be Imaginative? An Experiment Testing the Perceived Credibility of Melodramatic Animated News, News Organizations, Media Use, and Media Dependency

In recent years, some media organizations have begun to use a new type of animation in news reports that is melodramatic and emotion-laden. These have successfully drawn considerable numbers of viewers to their online news reports. The use of such techniques is controversial and has sparked debate over its appropriateness. An experiment with 153 college students as participants was conducted to compare the perceived credibility of news reports with and without melodramatic animation. The results show that the animation format neither enhances nor dampens news credibility. However, they also show that sound effects reduce the credibility of news reports using melodramatic animation. The perceived credibility was also related to the credibility of the news organization and the medium dependency of the viewer. Implications for animated news media, future research directions, and ethical issues of using such technique are discussed.