Die Publikumsnorm. Eine Studie zur Leserbeurteilung der Qualität journalistischer Online-Artikel unter Berücksichtigung des Einflussfaktors Medienreputation

This study is devoted to examining how recipients assess the quality of online news content. Previous studies on recipients' perception of online news are based on normative scientific standards only; as a consequence, quality criteria relevant to audiences have been neglected. However, we claim that the reputation of individual media outlets and the intensity of individual site's usage among audiences influence the evaluation of journalistic content. To address these issues we conducted a multi-method online survey (N = 297). Among the results of the study, we identified important quality criteria and draw attention to the role of eight German online news media sites' reputation scores. Participants of a subsequent online experiment (N = 625) evaluated articles which were manipulated with regard to audience-related criteria and the medium of origin (2x3 design). The examined criteria explain 73.9 percent variance of the overall judgement, hence, they are suitable for investigating recipients' quality assessment. Interestingly, the quality of an article is judged significantly better if it is published in a high reputation news medium. The amount of individual usage, however, does not influence the overall assessment.