The McCroskey and Jenson source credibility scale was administered to a sample of 178 college students before and after watching Governor Clinton, candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, answer questions relating to charges of marital infidelity on a nationally televised program. Four source credibility attributes showed no statistically significant changes in scores before and after the program on competency, character, sociability, and extroversion.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarberJ. D. (1985) The presidential character: predicting performance in the White House. (3rd ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
2.
BollerP. F.Jr. (1984) Presidential campaigns. New York: Oxford Univer. Press.
3.
ChaffeeS. H.MiyoY. (1983) Selective exposure and the reinforcement hypothesis: an intergenerational panel study of the 1980 presidential campaign. Communications Research, 10, 2–36.
4.
DiamondE. (1975) The tin kazoo. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
5.
FreemanD. S. (1954) George Washington, a biography. Vol. 6. New York: Scribner. P. 165.
6.
McCroskeyJ. C.JensonT. A. (1975) Image of mass media news sources. Journal of Broadcasting, 19, 169–180.
7.
McLeodJ. M.GlynnC. J.McDonaldD. (1983) Issues and images: the influence of media reliance in voting decisions. Communications Research, 10, 37–58.
8.
New York Times. (1992) Clinton defends his privacy and says the press intruded. CXLI (January 27), A14, 5–6.
9.
ReichR. B. (1987) Tales of a new America. New York: Times Books.
10.
SchlesingerA. M. (1971) A history of American presidential elections, 1789–1968. New York: Chelsea House Publ.
11.
WanzenriedJ. W.PowellF. C.FranksL. J. (1989) Perceptions of political competency and the impact of a televised debate. Psychological Reports, 64, 825–826.
12.
WatsonR. A.ThomasN. C. (1988) The politics of the presidency. (2nd ed.) Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, Inc.
