Perceived source credibility of local television news: The impact of television form and presence

An increasing number of local news stations are producing and broadcasting their newscasts in high-definition television (HDTV), but to date there has not been an investigation of audience perceptions of news in high definition. This study presents the results from an experiment investigating the influence of television form (image quality and field of view) on presence and audiences' perceptions of source credibility for news anchors and local news. The results demonstrate that improved image quality (HDTV) has a positive influence on audience perceptions of source credibility and the overall credibility of newscasts. Implications are discussed.