credibility

An element in strategic defence strategies, in particular deterrence, originating in the USA. It was designed to demonstrate to the East that the West had a sufficient number of accurate and dependable weapons which it would be prepared to use in the event of a first strike by the other side.

In public speaking, Aristotle considered the credibility of the speaker, his character, to be one of the forms of proof.

Credibility online has become an important topic since 1999, as the web is increasingly an information resource. The Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University has studied web credibility and outlined the principal components of online credibility and a general theory called Prominence-Interpretation Theory.

According to the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics, professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalists credibility.See Preamble