TOPIC 13 : GATEKEEPING
Lewin (1947) and White (1950) were the first scholars to construct the media gatekeeping theory. Since their landmark
studies, scholars have identified decision points where stories were specifically chosen or discarded by professionals with
the power to determine what the public would read, hear, or see. These forces, which occur at various levels of influence,
affect these decision points, also known as gates.
As media dissemination technologies have evolved, so have the responsibilities of the professional gatekeeper.
The practice of today's gatekeeper is again redefined as a result of the emergence of interactive media, which allows
almost anyone to disseminate information on a broad scale to a global audience as well as select the stories they want to know about.
Media gatekeepers are “those decision makers who control the flow of news” (Snider, 1967, p. 419).
Gatekeeping is a necessary condition of distributing news, as “it is impossible to disseminate all stories
in any single newspaper, magazine, or broadcast program” (Carter, 1998, p. 92). Since the decision of selecting
items occur at various points, or gates, throughout the production channel, professionals at different levels
can have gatekeeping responsibilities.
Although many gatekeeping studies focus on the professional who first receives the information
(e.g. a managing editor at a newspaper or an assignment editor at a television station), news reporters,
producers, directors, and executives all have a role in the gatekeeping process.
These forces occur consciously and unconsciously, at the individual, routine, organization, extramedia, and ideological
levels (Shoemaker and Reese, 1996, p. 64). Multiple forces exist at decision points and vary in intensity and direction,
forming a competitive environment (Shoemaker, Eichholz, Kim, and Wrigley, 2001).
Why do gatekeepers exist?
The practice of gatekeeping allows editors and producers to wade through the volumes of information they
receive to eliminate the stories and ideas that do not fit into the allotted broadcast time.
Another reason why the gatekeeping function exists is because of the nature of news. News, especially
spontaneous events, occur “when nothing and no one is available to cover it, at the wrong time, and in a
place that is very difficult to get to.”
The news business is deadline oriented and hectic, and guidelines must be employed so that human and
office resources are not wasted. Therefore, editorial guidelines and resources help direct gatekeepers to make appropriate decisions.
Market-oriented Journalism and its Affect on Gatekeeping
These studies reveal that story selection is part of an automatic process of news production, which can also be influenced
by managerial guidelines to keep readers interested, as well as maximize income and minimize expenditures (Shoemaker, 1991).
The idea of market-driven journalism radiates from the organizational, or managerial, level.
Although the news director wanted to select newsworthy events and stories, he knew there was a possibility that he
may have to compromise journalistic quality to maintain viewer interest and improve ratings, to meet the management
expectation to make money for the business.
Social/Extramedia Forces and Gatekeeping
Influences at the social level are external to the media organization. In the realm of news, this involves the audience,
advertisers, and public relations practitioners (Shoemaker, 1991). Although many of the prior examples note maintaining audience
interest as a determining factor of story selection (Harmon, 1989; Snider, 1967; White, 1950), Donohew (1967) did not find a
relationship between community opinion and gatekeeping behavior. Advertisers tend to influence what news items are selected
and how they are shaped.
Public relations practitioners use media channels to focus attention to their cause or product. They often write news
releases or create visually appealing events to gain the attention of gatekeepers. These tactics are also known as information
subsidies, which help alleviate taxing in-house resources of the media organization.
All television gatekeepers and half of the newspaper gatekeepers surveyed prefer news releases to be concise statements
that will lead to story ideas; but the other half of newspaper gatekeepers want news releases that have more complete information
and that can be used more directly .
Producers and editors want information packaged in a way that is appropriate for their medium, which will help
to keep readers and viewers interested.
Online Media: Where Are the Gatekeepers?
In recent years, the public has turned to the Internet for news information. Online news sites are a supplement to,
not a substitute for, radio, television, and print publications.
The online media has transformed journalism with features like interactive, on-demand, customizable content,
and the creative combinations of text, graphics, moving images, and sound.
The Web offers an unlimited amount of space and production flexibility that is not possible in linear, analog media.
The computer revolution has changed the economics of the news media, lowering the barrier to entry, and creating the
“people’s journalism” .
Journalists do not feel their role will diminish with the advent of new media. As the flow of data increases,
their skills will be needed more than ever. Gatekeepers can select and provide reliable and professionally sound news and
information to shoot down the rumors and gossip offered by cheap journalists.
Professional gatekeepers, who maintain their “values of serving the public interest, telling the truth, and making
sense of the world”, can serve as trusted guides to help people through useful information and avoid lies and hoaxes.
Newhagen and Levy (1998) point out that because of the Internet, gatekeeping mechanisms and the burden of
verification will naturally shift to the audience. They will need to be competent in critical thinking and media
literacy to discern between what is true information and gossip.
But even though online users are excited about their new freedom from media control over information (Singer, 1998),
users are employing filtering software, or electronic gatekeepers, to empower parents to control what is available to
their children (Carter, 1998) and to select and deliver the news items that are important to him or her (Singer, 2001)
directly to their e-mail address.
Agenda-Setting and Gatekeeping
According to McCombs and Shaw (1972), not only does the media educate the public on the given issues, but how
to perceive these issues, and therefore, influencing the attitudes of the public towards these issues.
Gatekeeping and agenda-setting work together: the issue is the item in the channel, and if it is newsworthy,
the item is selected. But how the issue is produced by the media (i.e. the story angle, etc.) and presented can
have an affect on public opinion.
The seminal study on agenda setting by McCombs and Shaw (1972) focused on political campaigns, and how
politicians were decreasing the number of their public appearances and were increasingly relying on the media for public exposure.
Recent statistics show that political candidates and other individuals and organizations with political objectives
have steadily increased their use of the Internet to “effectively to reach the public, without the filter of a traditional
news media gatekeeper” (Pavlik, 2001, p. 144).
Conclusion
The practice of today's gatekeeper is again redefined as a result of the emergence of interactive media, which allows
almost anyone to disseminate information on a broad scale to a global audience as well as select the stories they want to know about.
ß The world has changed significantly and gatekeepers need to make sense of their new position and responsibilities in order
to provide value to their audiences, their peers, and themselves. Scholars can contribute to this self-discovery, by initiating
studies that involve new media services and software.