Attitude Extremity and Trust in Media

.Media credibility would be a shallow research topic were it confined to popularity contests among media in national polls. But there is reason to believe judgments of trust (1) are associated with thinking, (2) are not always lightly made, and (3) can illuminate the connection between media use and cognition. The data reported in this study continue an inquiry into variables antecedent to audience evaluations of media, specifically what factors explain trust in media.' Considering credibility as a dependent variable is not new; the 1951 Hovland group noted in the validation of their experimental manipulation that along with effects of source characteristics, the audience's evaluations [of trustworthiness of the source] ". . . were also affected by their