BBC and CNN television news : their credibility among viewers in Malta

Abstract

This research probes into people's credibility toward BBC and CNN TV news in Malta by assessing audiences' perceptions. The initial questions are: do people in Malta trust more BBC than CNN TV news or vice versa and why? This study could be just a micro study to develop a larger picture of the credibility of such sources in a wider context. Chapter one serves as a problem statement and chapter two discusses the issue of credibility within the media and psychology literature. TV news is taken as a specific instance of media events particularly the BBC and CNN TV News channels and their viewing in local context. Chapter three provides a description of the methodology used in this study while chapter four discusses the findings of the mail survey undertaken for this investigation. Chapter five concludes with a summary of the findings, the limitations of this research and a number of recommendations for others to drive this research track even further.