Plus Points: The Effect of the Use of YouScoop on The Credibility of the GMA7 May 2010 Presidential Election Coverage on First-time Voters
Plus Points: The Effect of the Use of YouScoop on The Credibility of the GMA7 May 2010 Presidential Election Coverage on First-time Voters
ABSTRACT
Villafuerte, V. (2011). Plus Points: The Effect of the use of Youscoop on the Credibility of the GMA7 May 2010 Presidential Election Coverage on First-Time Voters, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines Diliman at Quezon City.
This study aims to determine how YouScoop influenced first-time voters’ perception of the credibility of GMA-7’s coverage of the May 2010 presidential elections.
Poster’s New Media Theory, Shoemaker’s Gatekeeping Theory and Hovland, et. al.’s Source Credibility Theory were used as framework of this study. The researcher conducted a focus interview with Michael Josh Villanueva of GMA News and Public Affairs to determine how and why the network incorporated YouScoop in the coverage of the elections and to describe the gatekeeping process that YouScoop news items underwent before they were aired. Furthermore, another focus interview with Luis V. Teodoro of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility was conducted to contextualize the answers of Mr. Villanueva. On the other hand, focus interviews with 12 first-time voters residing in the Second District of Quezon City were conducted to determine their perception of the credibility of YouScoop news items and how it affected their perception of the credibility of GMA-7’s election coverage.
Findings show that majority of the respondents initially perceived the GMA-7’s May 2010 election coverage positively and that YouScoop is a credible source of information. However, YouScoop posed no influence in all of the respondents’ perception of the credibility of GMA-7’s May 2010 presidential election coverage.