A Web-Based Tool for Assessing the Reliability of Online News Articles - Insights into Potentials, Usability and Possible Applications

The reliability of journalistic online content is often difficult for consumers to assess. This paper discusses initial insights into the usefulness, acceptance and usability of a novel prototype platform for analyzing and visually processing various characteristics of online news in the context of reliability assessment of online news articles - including text style, strength of opinion, source credibility and article distribution. The results are based on quantitative and qualitative evaluations using questionnaires (n=22) and interviews (n=4). The presented findings reveal both difficulties and challenges with regard to analyzing the credibility of online news content, but also show opportunities for further development and high potentials of certain analysis components (e.g., analysis of opinion strength and article distribution).