Blog #10 Gatekeeping

 Gatekeeping

“Gatekeeping is the process by which billions of messages that are available in the world get cut down and transformed into the hundreds of messages that reach a given person on a given day”  - Pamela J. Shoemaker

In a world encompassed by mass media, it is easy to consume media in a passive, yet influential way. With knowledge comes great power, leading many to want to carefully construct the media to emphasize the ideas and beliefs that are beneficial to them. Media has the ability to educate, but it also has the ability to transform and define the perceptions of many people. With new technology revealing more and more of our personal privacy, algorithms and censoring has the power to create everyone's media feeds specific to the messaging that correlates with their beliefs. 

Part of the ways media is able to subtly censor information is through the term "gatekeeping." Simplistically, gatekeeping can be referred to as the "activity of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something." This is done because it is a way to block unwanted information by using a gate and the power of a gatekeeper. 

So who are the gatekeepers? Gatekeepers can look like many different types of people and things. Some could be various people, yourself, news gathers and new managers, organization policies, or even computer algorithms. 

Gatekeeping theory is very important to understand because gatekeepers make decisions on what will appear in media as well as which items are newsworthy ('opening the gate') and which are not ('closing the gate').  To understand the process of gatekeeping, we first must understand and identify the various elements involved in gatekeeping.

Elements of Gatekeeping

Channels: Sources, media, audiences

Gates: Locations of channel

Gated: The results of gatekeeping (messages shown)

Gatekeepers: Individuals, groups, organizations

Forces: Factors influencing gatekeepers decisions

So why is understanding gatekeeping important?

The understanding of gatekeeping theory is important because the way in which news/information is covered determines our perception of reality. To better understand gatekeeping and its impacts on society, here is an example:

Example:

1. News channels have many stories

2. Journalist, editor, news company (gatekeeper) decides what to reveal to the public based on different forces (whether it is in their best interest/bias)

3. Specific topic is then covered and accessible for audiences to learn

Channels such as news companies, social media, etc. have great power in deciding what information is "newsworthy," inevitably making audiences' knowledge and understanding predicated on what various media channels deem appropriate and valuable.

So now what?

Now that you understand gatekeeping, you may be thinking how can I control my own media information and access to information? Down below is a Ted Talk that talks about how and why you should be your own information gatekeeper.