Investigating the effects of a physician’s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news
A quasi-experiment (N = 676) manipulated the gender and race of physician sources in news about COVID-19 vaccinations. Results suggest no differences in perceived credibility across genders, but news featuring an African American or Latinx physician predicted higher reader engagement than news featuring a White physician. These findings address the effects of a source’s gender or race in health news and lend support for equal representation of women and racial minorities as expert sources.
Authors
- Dinfin Mulupi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6056-6151)
- Frankie Ho Chun Wong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9072-769X)
- Ronald A. Yaros (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2205-757X)
Institutions
- Lingnan University (HK)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- News Research Journal
- Published
- 2024-12-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/07395329241298966
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Media Studies and Communication
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.87