What is credibility?

Curtis Seminar participants share their insights

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We asked participants at the outset of this year's Curtis Memorial Seminar to

give us their thoughts on the meaning of credibility. The following are excerpts of what they said.

M.J. Bear, Consultant, mjbear.com
"Credibility is about track record and how you portray that record."

Carin Dessauer, Shapiro Fellow, School of Media & Public Affairs, GW University
"Credibility is dependability and it's also about brand and crosses all platforms. Journalism 101 applies everywhere. That's the challenge is to get colleagues everywhere to understand."

Douglas Feaver, Executive Editor, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
"Don't know what credibility is but know what it feels like to lose it. [Having a Pulitzer Prize taken back from the Washington Post] was the worst day of my professional career. It has taken us many years to get that trust back. We had violated a trust. I take that very much to heart now on the Internet."

Max Cacas

Howard I. Finberg, Digital Futurist Consultancy
"Believability is a word that kept coming back to me. Believability is about personal experience. If you tell me something and I believe you, you become credible. A lot of social scientist have looked at that."

Leah Gentry, Principal, Finberg-Gentry/The Digital Futurist Consultancy
"One of the ways we measure credibility is by use of their time. It's measured over time. If you're willing to devote your time, that says a lot about what you think about [an organization's] credibility.

Phil Currie

Gary Kebbel, Director, News Services, America Online, Inc.
"Timeliness vs. accuracy. When news breaks anywhere at any time. You could have the story right and two minutes later have it wrong. If that news site is online, they will have it wrong for a couple minutes. There is an impact with a 24-hour news cycle.

Robin Miller, Editor-in-Chief, Open Source Development Network
"I have a definition for a biased journalist. It is one who agrees with me in every way."

Rich Jaroslovsky

Nora M. Paul, Director, University Of Minnesota (Institute For New Media)
"People make judgements. How do I know I can trust an information source. Especially what a person's agenda is. Who is this person and why are they telling me this."

George P. Rodrigue, Vice President, Belo Corporation (Washington Bureau)
"Credibility is the personality the readers think you have. They want you to know you are looking out for them before you look out for yourself. It's the same personality you want in a good friend, someone who looks out for you as well as themselves. We have some major credibility issues from traditional media."

Michael Silberman

Jan L. Schaffer, Executive Director, Pew Center for Civic Journalism
"The shorthand term Is incubator. Try to avoid treating readers like passive spectators at a freak show and treat them more like an active participant. Especially after the events of September 11, the truth is not a single term. There are many truths. Perhaps one of the derivatives of credibility is relationships. You believe one you have a built-up relationship with."

Danny Schecter, Executive Editor, MediaChannel.org
"Credibility has to do with having to encouraging people to become critical viewers and readers. Context and background are important."

Martha L. Stone

Scott White, Editor in Chief, The Canadian Press
"When you work for the wire, credibility has two channels. You think that your media clients have to depend on your service. Then you have the people directly questioning your credibility, which is refreshing. I'm concerned with consistent accuracy. If you're going to run that story at 3 a.m. that a bunch of editors at those papers are going to get questions about, it better be right.