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S. Camille Broadway.
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Some advice

There are three main areas Web sites can work on to improve credibility: content, design, and policies. Here are some quick fixes for each:

"It's the content, stupid"

In Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, the unofficial slogan was "It's the economy, stupid." For online news providers, the slogan has got to be "It's the content, stupid."

For example, The Committee of Concerned Journalists released a study April 9, 2000 that examined the quality of political information online. They found:

• Political Web sites were updating information regularly. However, some sites updated so frequently and without re-editing the sites, that the biggest news of the day got shoved way down the page, below other minor, if more recent, stories.
• A quarter of the Web sites studied did no original reporting.
• Only 2 percent of the lead stories on these site dealt with candidates' policies, records or core messages. Half the sites linked to this type of information.
• A quarter of front page stories had no interactive element.
• More than half of lead stories had at least five sources. And the majority of sources were identified.

The committee's findings offer insight into the elements that all good Web content should share.

• Keep it current. Online there are no news cycles and no deadlines, so post the information as soon as its available (but don't rush it without editing or confirming key points).
• Remember content is king. Don't rely on wire services to supply all the information for a Web site. If people can go other places to find the same information, they probably will. Offer them some angle, some perspective, and/or a depth that they cannot get elsewhere.
• Remember you are online. The Web has advantages over other types of print media, so link to other stories and raw sources of information (like copies of speeches or candidates position papers). When available, post video and audio and photographs with your content and give people an avenue to respond.
• Keep stories well-sourced. The number of sources obviously depends on the length of the story and its complexity, but three to five is a baseline range.
• Find a diversity of sources. Keep in mind that there are always multiple points of view for any story. Online content to be credible needs to incorporate several different opinions.
• Edit, edit, edit and edit again: Make sure everything is spelled and punctuated correctly. Check titles and quotes in stories, and confirm key information with other sources. Then do it again.
• Avoid unnamed sources. A study by S. Shyam Sundar, published in the Spring 1998 edition of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, found that using quotes greatly enhanced readers' perceptions of credibility and quality of news stories on the Internet.