The Credible Brand Model: The Effects of Ideological Congruency and Customer-Based Brand Equity on News Credibility

Abstract

This study proposes and tests the credible brand model (CBM), which explicates the effects of customer-based brand equity and ideological congruency on audiences’ perceptions of the credibility of news media outlets and the believability of their messages. Data from a survey and an experiment probing respondents’ perceptions of two media outlets (CNN and Fox News Channel) were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The data showed strong support for the CBM.