Look Who's Writing: How Gender Affects News Credibility and Perceptions of News Relevance. (March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Paul, Newly; Sui, Mingxiao; Searles, Kathleen
• Is Part Of: Journalism & mass communication quarterly. Volume 99:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 183
• Page End: 212
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Subjects: gender in the newsroom -- gender stereotypes -- news credibility -- reporter credibility; Journalism -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Periodicals; Communication -- Periodicals; Journalism -- United States -- Periodicals; Journalism -- Bibliography -- Periodicals; 070
• DOI: 10.1177/10776990211042595
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-6990

Abstract

Women reporters are underrepresented in newsrooms and assigned to gender-stereotypic roles, but to what effect? To better understand the role of gender in news making, this article utilizes three survey experiments to investigate the effects of journalists' gender on reader perceptions toward reporter credibility, outlet credibility, and the relevance of news to them. We find little evidence that readers doubt the credibility of a reporter or a news outlet based on the gender of a reporter, the gender of the source, or the gendered nature of the issue. Our findings have implications for media credibility and newsroom diversity.