This section will outline the criteria I will use in Chapter 3 to grade journalistic web sites for credibility. There will be a number of aspects that I will look at, which will all be weighted and averaged. The web site will be given a final grade based on its performance. In this section, I will include examples of good and bad practices, but the web sites that I use as examples in this section will not be among the ones graded in Chapter 3.

Grading Point 1: Extent of Community Involvement

The Internet allows people access to a variety of information, and also allows them to take part in both volunteering and commenting on that information. A good journalistic web site will allow comments from the general public. The more discussion that goes on, the more involved the community will be with the news, and thus more interested in keeping track of the site. An established community of commenters will also attract more discussion due to an active response time for new comments.

Another sign of good community involvement is community blogs hosted by the journalistic web site. These blogs will not only facilitate discussion but can also lend a human aspect to the range of stories due to a blogger's opinion on issues. Active bloggers with an active reader base are a good indication that a web site is read and discussed by members of the community. The Knoxville News Sentinel has had luck with its community bloggers, most notedly Kesi Garcia and Rick Starr, who blog often, but the blogs often lack commentary from the community, and may need to be more prominent on the site. Most of the blog entries only have one or two comments.

Grading Point 2: Format of Stories

In addition, a good site will use other story formats than writing. The Internet allows for a large variety of multimedia, so a paper should branch out and use video, audio, and photograph stories to keep readers interested and to use the Internet to its fullest potential for news reporting. Not only should there be autonomous stories using multimedia, but written stories should have links to multimedia that correspond to the content and add content to those stories. A site that does a good job of including multimedia is www.knoxnews.com. The Knoxville News Sentinel often includes supplemental video, audio, and photos to accompany its stories, such as the story on the Central High School shooting. This extensive collection of multimedia lends more credibility to the story than just the written part, because the readers get firsthand accounts of what happened from people who were interviewed on video and audio.

Grading Point 3: Editorial System

A journalistic organization will always include some sort of editorial hierarchy. An editor keeps the paper's interests in mind, makes sure that the requirements for a story are met, and networks the staff. Without some sort of editor to check stories, a news organization might as well be a collection of blogs. The editorial hierarchy should be prominent on a site, including editorials, editor input, and obvious use of prominent, connected stories within the site. Traditional journalism's gatekeeper role has changed, but editors should still keep in mind the standards for which news reporting is considered credible. Online moderators are also included in this section-- in moderating comments on stories and blogs, they decide what information stays up for readers, and what is taken down. At the Knoxville News Sentinel, online moderators also get to decide what order the stories appear in on the site, but they double check each other. In this manner, the newsroom can be seen as a gatekeeping entity that collectively decides the best way to carry out the site moderation. A group of editors that check and double check each other in gatekeeping decisions (why or why not to post a story) are more credible than a singular writer and publisher because a more diverse group decides what is best for the site. It is this point that delineates the major differences between blogs and news organizations.

Grading Point 4: Blogs

Blogs exist for personal input on stories and events. A good news web site will allow its editors, writers, and staff members to keep blogs. There may be restrictions on what the blogs can cover, such as personal information, but there should be evidence that the paper staff can have opinions outside of their news stories. This will project a credible image as it encourages subjective writing while keeping objective integrity of certain news stories. The Knoxville News Sentinel allows its staff to have blogs, such as Michael Silence's “No Silence Here” or Jack McElroy's “The Front Lines.” A news organization that supports blogging supports the individual voice. Readers and viewers are more likely to see a site as credible if it has individuals speaking out among the large, broad stories. This practice shows the readers that real people with real opinions are writing the stories and moderating the site.

Grading Point 5: Updates

The Internet allows for split-second updates, and a credible site will take advantage of this fact. Not only does it improve the ability of reporters to update stories, it improves credibility by letting moderators change facts based on corrections that arise after the story is published. A site that shows a regular update schedule, including changing lead stories throughout the day on the site, shows an online presence to the public, letting them know that someone is always working with the site. The Knoxville News Sentinel employs a team of online producers who always have someone in charge of fielding breaking stories, story corrections, and comment moderation. In this manner, a site has an active online presence, which shows readers and viewers that the site is interested in staying up-to-date, and can effectively use the Internet to keep stories and the site fresh and moderated.