Designing and explaining the authority pattern in news websites

Abstract

News sites are among the mass media that have grown exponentially to facilitate the use of web technology. Now, with the advent of social media and the changing news audience consumption, news sites have lost some of their audience. But having an editorial process and more credibility than social media has still kept them as popular news media. Turning news sites into news authorities is one of the concerns of news site managers. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to present a pattern of authority in news websites. The research method was the qualitative method of data grounded theory and the method of data collection was in-depth and semi-structured interviews with 16 managers, editors and reporters of news sites and news agencies, as well as media experts. finally pattern of authority for news sites is presented. The categories that form the presented pattern include: competitive environment of news sites, media trust (main phenomenon), increasing media credibility (strategy), attractiveness of news site design (intervening conditions), audience behavioral tendencies (context) and news authority as a consequence of this pattern.

Keywords

• news
• news site
• news authority
• grounded theory