Investigating the effects of a physician’s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news

Dinfin K. MULUPI; Frankie H. C. WONG; Ronald A. YAROS

doi:10.1177/07395329241298966

Investigating the effects of a physician’s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news

Dinfin K. MULUPI
, Frankie H. C. WONG
, Ronald A. YAROS^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Sociology and Social Policy

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

Abstract

A quasi-experiment (N = 676) manipulated the gender and race of physician sources in news about COVID-19 vaccinations. Results suggest no differences in perceived credibility across genders, but news featuring an African American or Latinx physician predicted higher reader engagement than news featuring a White physician. These findings address the effects of a source’s gender or race in health news and lend support for equal representation of women and racial minorities as expert sources.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	96-117
Number of pages	22
Journal	Newspaper Research Journal
Volume	46
Issue number	1
Early online date	3 Dec 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/07395329241298966
Publication status	Published - Mar 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 NOND of AEJMC.

Keywords

COVID-19
credibility
news engagement
race
sexism
sources

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1177/07395329241298966

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/07395329241298966

Cite this

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title = "Investigating the effects of a physician{\textquoteright}s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news",

abstract = "A quasi-experiment (N = 676) manipulated the gender and race of physician sources in news about COVID-19 vaccinations. Results suggest no differences in perceived credibility across genders, but news featuring an African American or Latinx physician predicted higher reader engagement than news featuring a White physician. These findings address the effects of a source{\textquoteright}s gender or race in health news and lend support for equal representation of women and racial minorities as expert sources.",

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KW - COVID-19

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KW - sexism

KW - sources

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Investigating the effects of a physician’s race and gender on user engagement with and perceived credibility of COVID-19 vaccine news

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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