From Transparency to Transactive Memory System: How Do Newsrooms’ GitHub Pages Shape News Outlet Credibility?

Abstract

Amid the rise of computational and data-driven journalism, many newsrooms are using GitHub as a platform for collaborative work on news products. Despite the growing importance of GitHub in journalism, little is known about how a newsroom’s information disclosure on GitHub shapes audiences’ credibility judgment of the news outlet. Integrating theoretical insights from the transactive memory system and journalistic transparency, we conducted two online experiments in the United States. Study 1 (N = 225) explored whether newsrooms’ producer- and production-disclosure on GitHub impact news outlet credibility. The results show that production transparency could directly predict credibility whereas producer transparency could only indirectly boost credibility via perceived transparency. Study 2 (N = 210) examined how the two key indicators of TMS operation: team expertise diversity and experience diversity affected news outlet credibility. It was revealed that team expertise diversity could indirectly enhance news outlet credibility via perceived team specialization; team experience diversity could indirectly foster news outlet credibility via perceived team coordination. We discussed the theoretical significance and practical implications for newsrooms on using GitHub as an emerging space to practice transparency and build trust with audiences.