Variations in channels and channel characteristics, and the ability to
select among them for message placement, provide the strategist with
many other potential tactical choices as well. Information channels can be
differentiated, for instance, by their relative credibility or legitimacy,
either in general or with specifi c audiences, which characteristic can become
bound to a given message. Some channels, too, are more easily or directly
controlled than others. In fact, this is arguably an inverse relationship, in
which the limits on controllability, in and of themselves, are the primary
contributors to the credibility of a channel—the more independent the
channel, the greater its credibility. It has long been a rule of thumb in
electoral campaigns, for instance, that messages conveyed through news