Prediction of Media Credibility in Egypt's Post-Revolution Transitional Phase

A survey was conducted following the 2011 revolution in Egypt to assess peoples’ attitudes toward media channels during the pre-election transitional period. Factors that might influence news credibility perceptions, such as media reliance, political attitudes, and non-mediated sources were included in the study. Television was rated the highest in credibility, followed by newspapers and the Internet. Those who use the Internet rated online newspapers, news portals and Facebook postings highly. State media continues to have high credibility among less educated and less wealthy Egyptians, the majority of voters. Reliance on online sources proved to be a strong predictor of credibility, while reliance on traditional media did not have the same result. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that several demographics proved to be a predictor of whether a medium is judged as credible. Political attitudes were found to be a weak predictor of credibility.