“Said” or “told the reporter”? The effects of quote-attribution style on content and source perceptions

Through two online experiments (N 1 = 139, N 2 = 250), this study tests the effects of attribution style in news articles. Student participants rated articles with “told the reporter” or the traditional “said” as higher in message and source credibility than articles with “told me,” but non-student participants did not perceive differences. Open-ended responses suggested that students found first-person attribution to be unprofessional while the other participants thought their preferences would vary based on context.