assumptions of gatekeeping theory assumptions of gatekeeping theory

endobj The gatekeeper decides what information should move past them (through the information gate) to the group or individuals beyond, and what information should not. Advertisers, wealthy institutions, or wealthy individuals may be able to have a say in what data points are published in the first place. Coronel, S. S., The Media as Watchdog, Harvard-World Bank Workshop, May 19, 2008, accessed September 19, 2012, http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Conference/Conference%20papers/Coronel%20Watchdog.pdf. For example, the editor did not like sensationalism, propaganda, vaguely written stories, repetitious stories, or uninteresting stories. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 595.32 841.92] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> But, have a look at todays communication method, spreading news and information is as easy as boiling hot water. In an age of twenty-four-hour news and instant reporting, do you think politicians jobs are made easier or more difficult? In terms of the gatekeeping function of limiting, media outlets decide whether or not to pass something along to the media channel so it can be relayed. The relationship between the Presidential administration and the press is an example of this in the United States. In short, they begin to view themselves as similar to those they watch on television and consider themselves a part of the mainstream of society even though they are not. From sociology, mass media researchers began to study the powerful socializing role that the media plays but also acknowledged that audience members take active roles in interpreting media messages. For example, the Occupy Movement that began on Wall Street in New York City gained some attention from alternative media and people using micromedia platforms like independent bloggers. Gatekeeping theory tries to understand this process. Other correlations were not statistically significant. The best resource for Gatekeeping theory info is Gatekeeping Theory by Shoemaker + Vos (amazon link). Helped me in mu viva voice. https://doi.org/10.1002/aris.2009.1440430117, Beard, F., & Olsen, R. L. (1999). These factors are influenced by the political parties, Governing and Non Governmental organizations, and sometimes the educational institutions. 2 0 obj Thank you very much found it very helpful to my presentation Im a student at Nust university doing publishing studies. The media also engages in investigative reporting, which can uncover dangers or corruption that the media can then expose so that the public can demand change. pp. The media is supposed to report information to the public so they can make informed decisions. While smell, taste, and touch can add context to a conversation over a romantic dinner, our interaction with mass media messages rely almost exclusively on sight and sound. For example, the media constructs meanings for people regarding the role of technology in our lives by including certain kinds of technology in television show plots, publishing magazines like Wired, broadcasting news about Microsofts latest product, airing advertisements for digital cameras, producing science fiction movies, and so on. Gatekeeping is one of the media's central roles in public life: people rely on mediators to transform information about billions of events into a manageable number of media messages. This is really so impressive because you even used illustrations which communicates everything before i read it through In the 1920s, early theories of mass communication were objective, and social-scientific reactions to the largely anecdotal theories that emerged soon after mass media quickly expanded. Only a limited number of these can be presented to the public. The gatekeeper is having its own influence like social, cultural, ethical and political. Cultivation theory explores a particular kind of media effect claiming that media exposure, specifically to television, shapes our social reality by giving us a distorted view on the amount of violence and risk in the world. Just as a farmer plants seeds that he or she then cultivates over time to produce a crop, the media plants seeds in our minds and then cultivates them until they grow into our shared social reality. In terms of the attack-dog role, the twenty-four-hour news cycle and constant reporting on public figures has created the kind of atmosphere where reporters may be waiting to pounce on a mistake or error in order to get the scoop and be able to produce a tantalizing story. culling and crafting countless bits of information into the limited number of messages that reach people every day, and it is the center of the medias role in modern public life (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009). Another objection focuses on the idea that the concept of gatekeeping is too general: Gatekeepers and gatekeeping might be anything, under the appropriate circumstances, weakening the ability to decompose gatekeeping analytically as a process or to focus on the gatekeeping itself as the main topic (Barzilai-Nahon, 2009, p. 38). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. They have also claimed weak effects, meaning that media messages have no little power over viewers. However, it looks like the Gatekeeper for this post may have overlooked the first sentenceGermany. Using the links provided, find a substantial article, study, or report that analyzes some media practice such as the covering of a specific event. In terms of the gatekeeping function of limiting, media outlets decide whether or not to pass something along to the media channel so it can be relayed. This means gatekeeping must be put into a role of surveillance, monitoring the data points that are created every day to sort out the relevant items that someone will want to have. Once the movement started getting mainstream press attention, the coverage affected the movement. The gatekeeping framework is largely based on the assumption that there is a given, finite, knowable reality of events in the 'real world', from which it is the task of the media to select . As a direct exmaple, in the news medium the editor plays this vital role. i{?@8tW^KBT8AE There are certain media effects that are fairly obvious and most of us would agree are common (even for ourselves). In his As more research was conducted, scholars began to find flaws within this thinking. Its very understandable. Certain news organizations may have their own agendas, which influence the news. Simply put, gatekeeping is the process by which the billions of messages that are available in the world get cut down and transformed into hundreds of messages that reach a given person on a given day (Shoemaker 1). Gatekeeping theory was first introduced by the social psychologist Kurt Lewin in 1943. An example of this is seeing a sensational or scandalous story at the top of a broadcast as opposed to a story that happened more recently or one that affects . Pingback: From streets to screens: Is online activism the future of social movements? These might also be said as media information restrictions or censorship according to the legal side (Libel and Slander). The amount of time and space devoted by the media to a particular issue decides the receptiveness and alertness of the audience to the same issue. What are the criteria used to screen potential stories from those available to decide which ones to offer or reject? Gate Keeping Theory 1. Central to this role is the notion that the press works independently of the government. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 43(1), 179. This book is the most ambitious overview of gatekeeping to date. What are the asumptions, weaknesses of this theory. How was this theory used by Trump in his campaign ? The gatekeeping theory of mass communication is a method which allows us to keep our sanity. He also copy-edits and writes headlines for those stories (White, 1950). The answer for the question of newsworthiness, editorial values and news policies when an information is passed lies in the hands of the journalists and the editors of the organization. The next major turn in mass communication theory occurred only a few years after many scholars had concluded that media had no or only minimal effects (McQuail, 2010). What is the process used by news media for observing the many potential stories from which their daily offerings will be selected? The National Science Foundation (2018) reports that women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are still vastly outnumbered in science and engineering by their White, male counterparts. In a world where fake news often competes with real news, gatekeeping can be programmed to tell the differences between the two types of content so that only the preferred data points are consumed by each individual. Of course, this ideal is not always met in practice. As news of the Occupy movement in New York spread, people in other cities and towns across the country started to form their own protest groups. They focus on how their information should influence their set of audiences. Gatekeeping is the process of controlling information as it moves through a filter (gate). <> To keep things working without any kind of conflict, we are introduced to four theories that mass media uses. Thanks a lot. What are the consequences of using those criteria for the audience. It is often challenging for scholars to describe and analyze new gatekeeping phenomena using traditional methods. We also require more than sensory ability to receive mass media messages. Given that policy language is difficult for many to understand and that legislation contains many details that may not be important to average people, a concise and lay reinterpretation of the content by the gatekeepers (the media outlets) would have helped the public better understand the bill. This process determines not only which information is selected, but also what the content and nature of messages, such as news, will be. We cite peer reviewed academic articles wherever possible and reference our sources at the end of our articles. They can be summed up as (1) exclusion as punishment, (2) representation and positionality, (3) standardization, (4) coloniality, and (5) silencing.While the first three refer to general issues of theory-building, the latter two relate to an historical legacy and its impact on systems of knowledge production. New technologies make it possible for an audience to be in direct contact with those who produce information, allowing for immediate consumption without a gatekeeping filter in place. For example, businesses and advertisers saw media as a good way to make money, and the educator class saw the media as a way to inform citizens who could then be more active in a democratic society. This assumption states that men are the dominant group, and their experiences are given preference over a women's preference. Whether or not the media intends to do this or whether or not we acknowledge that how we think about technology or any other social construct is formed through our exposure to these messages is not especially relevant. B) The Internet has completely negated the ability of traditional media to influence the public. These newer theories incorporated more contextual factors into the view of communication, acknowledging that both sender and receiver interpret messages based on their previous experience. A quick overview of the state of the media in the early 1900s and in the early 2000s provides some context for how views of the media changed. Routledge. The audience are taught to adapt to the frame of reference given by the media. The channel has its own set of ethics, policies, and biases through which the editor decides the news items that will be published, aired, or killed. This information has being very helpful to me as Im now aware what gatekeeping its all about. This has a larger effect on both the audience and the framer. If you live in Northern Canada and the informational gatekeeper pushes through content that talks about suntan lotion, the individual may filter the content and discard it because it is not relevant to them at that time. During this time, researchers explored how audience members schemata and personalities (concepts we discussed in Chapter 2 Communication and Perception) affect message interpretation. In terms of the lapdog role, the media can become too cozy with a politician or other public figure, which might lead it to uncritically report or passively relay information without questioning it. The agenda-setting theory rests on two basic assumptions. It is his job to select from the avalanche of wire copy daily provided by the Associated Press, United Press and International News Service what 30,000 families will read on the front page of their morning newspapers. They may be able to influence the various gates that are mediating data for consumers as well. Every day the news channel receives various news items from all over the world. This process determines not only which information is selected, but also what the content and nature of messages, such as news, will be. Now its one of the essential and foundational theories in communication studies. This means we must filter these data points so that we are able to access the ones that are either most relevant or occur within our proximity. 5. Change). https://doi.org/10.1108/10662249910274601, Carter, T. B. In this case, expanding helps us get more information than we would otherwise so we can be better informed. The concepts of perceptual bias and filtering also became important, as they explained why some people interpreted or ignored messages while others did not. In a world where fake news often competes with real news, gatekeeping can be programmed to tell the differences between the two types of content so that only the preferred data points are consumed by each individual. In addition to the functions discussed previously, media outlets also serve a gatekeeping function, which means they affect or control the information that is transmitted to their audiences. Information tends to follow the same pattern as the accepted societal norms, but within certain demographics of consumers. CVIII. What does assumption three of Muted Group Theory (MGT) mean? Learn more about our academic and editorial standards. These criteria are used by the editors, news directors, etc., to select and filter the news stories. 196-197): Gatekeeping theory is not without its weaknesses. Prime-time television shows and weekend morning childrens programming have been found to contain consistently high amounts of violence over the past thirty years. Thank you for the detailed explanation of gatekeeping. Honestly, I did not know of the Gatekeeper Theory until today. Heavy viewers are generally more suspicious of others and question their motives more than do light viewers (the basis of the mean world syndrome). https://helpfulprofessor.com/gatekeeping-theory/. For example, a Sports Illustrated cover story that you read at SI.com went through several human gates, including a writer, editor, publisher, photographer, and webmaster, as well as one media gatethe Internet. Lewin, K. (1943). Two of my personal favorites that I engage with every week are CNNs show Reliable Sources (http://reliablesources.blogs.cnn.com) and the public radio show On the Media (http://www.onthemedia.org). In home mother plays the vital role and she has to decide what their kids needs and what should avoid. Because most commercial media space is so limited and expensive, almost every message we receive is edited, which is inherently limiting. At first it was widely used in the field of psychology and social psychology and later moved to the field of communication as mass communication because a speciic area of study (largely due to the advent of mass publication technology). New York: Routledge. The idea was first posited by Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), a German psychologist and pioneer in social psychology. Agenda setting is nextly important to gatekeeping. Because most commercial media space is so limited and expensive, almost every message we receive is edited, which is inherently limiting. Gatekeeping is the process through which information is filtered for dissemination, be it publication, broadcasting, the Internet, or some other type of communication. The first is that the media filters and shapes what we see rather than just reflecting stories to the audience. Clear. Cite this Article in your Essay (APA Style), Privacy PolicyTerms and ConditionsDisclaimerAccessibility StatementVideo Transcripts. Such a policy is of necessity a compromise; traditional tex- . Theories of primacy and recency, which we discussed in Chapter 9 Preparing a Speech, emerged to account for the variation in interpretation based on the order in which a message is received. There are also more objective and balanced sources of media criticism. The Gate Keeper: A Case Study in the Selection of News. As an academic theory, it is found in several fields, including communication studies, journalism, political science, and sociology. Through experiments and surveys, researchers hoped to map the patterns within the human brain so they could connect certain stimuli to certain behaviors. More recently, scholar Karine Barzilai-Nahon has developed a new approach: network gatekeeping theory. Mass media simply plays the role of information dissemination through print (newspapers, books, magazines) and digital media (Television, Internet, advertising). For example, a technology geek and a person living off the grid have very different lives and very different views of technology, but because of their exposure to various forms of media that have similar patterns of messages regarding technology, they still have some shared reality and could talk in similar ways about computers, smartphones, and HD television. For example, researchers might try to prove that a message announcing that a product is on sale at a reduced price will lead people to buy a product they may not otherwise want or need. According to the Westley Mclean model of the editorial function, gatekeeping is described as the role of the media that decides what the audience can take and what they cannot, it decides what is important and what is not important, and finally, the gatekeeper decides how and in what way a story should be told. helpful content.that helps me to prepare for giving a presentation on media gatekeeping. When a person or event gets media attention, it influences the way the person acts or the way the event functions. In the 1970s, theories once again positioned media effects as powerful and influential based on additional influences from social psychology. The audience mentality tunes in with the media and they start giving more attention to the first issue than the second one. Explanations satisfactory. Even the attitudes toward content changes based on a personal perspective. Some of these organizations have a particular political ideology or social/cultural cause that they serve, so be cautious when choosing a source for media criticism to make sure you know what youre getting. 1. The gatekeeping theory of mass communication is a method which allows us to keep our sanity. In summary, relaying refers to the gatekeeping function of transmitting a message, which usually requires technology and equipment that the media outlet controls and has access to, but we do not. Schedules must be followed, information must be uploaded, and there is only a certain amount of time that is dedicated to the consumption of these data points by individuals. More recent media effects theories acknowledge that media messages do affect the receivers but that receivers also have some agency to reject or reinterpret the message. The concept of the gatekeeper emerged, since, for the first time, the sender of the message (the person or people behind the media) was the focus of research and not just the receiver. Audience and their consumption are the major factors that are influencing the Agenda Setting. Gatekeeping theory. Am a student of makerere university in the department of adult and community education keep up the spirit thanks. It is the process through which information is filtered by the gatekeepers. What are the criticisms of the theory? After all this, there is one more thing that influences the audience more. What are the latest research on gatekeeping theory. His studies are more based on to understand a persons own world, physical, mental and social through frequent conversation between his pre-memories, desire and his goals. The theory according to Elina E. (2018) [4] is explained as "the judgment or decision making. Mass Communication Theories: Explaining Origins, Processes, and Effects. Thank you. Although there are some features of communication that are lost when it becomes electronically mediated, mass communication also serves many functions that we have come to depend on and expect. They are known as the media class and the media vehicle. Its value is in its ability to explain what is happening now (how news stories are selected and filtered), but it has little to say about how the process of gatekeeping will change and when. Drawing on cultivation as it is practiced in farming, Gerbner turned this notion into a powerful metaphor to explain how the media, and television in particular, shapes our social realities. Additionally, mass communication scholars are interested in studying how we, as audience members, still have agency in how these constructions affect our reality, in that we may reject, renegotiate, or reinterpret a given message based on our own experiences. Individual journalists create the news. Scholars realized that additional variables such as psychological characteristics and social environment had to be included in the study of mass communication. It was this study that led to Lewins development of the concepts of a gate and a gatekeeper (Lewin, 1943). New theories emerged that didnt claim such a direct connection between the intent of a message and any single reaction on the part of receivers. (LogOut/ But in the context of new media, the influence of the gated must also be considered (Barzilai-Nahon, 2009, p. 42 & DeFleur & DeFleur, 2016, p. 197). Last, mass media messages involve less interactivity and more delayed feedback than other messages. 1 0 obj This view sees the media as being most influential in constructing meanings through multiple platforms and representations. 2. Media businesses were invested in this early strand of research, because data that proved that messages directly affect viewers could be used to persuade businesses to send their messages through the media channel in order to directly influence potential customers. With traditional media, gatekeeping typically describes a one-way relationship. Adding up to this, the levels and factors are also discussed. In what ways do you think the media should function in a democratic society? (LogOut/ It is decided when the workers of the media decide on what aspect they see their jobs, on the basis of objectivity, autonomy, immediacy, ethics and public services. To keep things working without any kind of conflict, we are introduced to four theories that mass media uses. Theories have claimed strong effects, meaning that media messages can directly and intentionally influence audience members. That favoritism can make a subject seem more or less important based on how the data points are consumed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010), 457. Gatekeeping theory struggles to describe the rise of algorithms and users as information selectors in digital spaces. Although most do not get mass public attention, there are many media criticism and analysis organizations that devote much time and resources to observing, studying, and/or commenting on how the media acts in practice, which often involves an implicit evaluation of media theories we have discussed so far, in particular media effects theories. In short, mass communication draws on fewer sensory channels than face-to-face communication. 4. Looking at CNN and Breitbart, with their differences, would be an example of how ideologies influence the information being consumed. There are various themes in content and media that are always presented in a pattern. In this case, media attention caused a movement to spread that may have otherwise remained localized. The human voice can only travel so far, and buildings and objects limit the amount of people we can communicate with at any time. Precisely, the media sets a stage for the audience to understand an issue by proposing the values and standards, which is Priming. All articles are edited by a PhD level academic. Originally focused on the mass media with its . Within any news organization, there is a news perspective that defines the criteria by which a particular news story is judged. Support your answers. Gatekeepers are the at a high level, data decision makers who control information flow to an entire social system. Which is most important for society and why? Based on personal or social influences they let the information to the group. Cultivation theory states that heavy television viewing cultivates, or grows, certain ways of thinking about the world that are distorted. The priming theory states that media images stimulate related thoughts in the minds of audience members.. White, D. M. (1950). The authors also brought gatekeeping into the age of the Internet, a time when some scholars are suggesting that . Because most commercial media space is so limited and expensive, almost every message we receive is edited, which is inherently limiting. To answer these questions, we can look at some of the characteristics and functions of mass communication. Heavy viewers predict that their odds of being a victim of violence within the next week are 1 in 10, while light viewers predicted 1 in 100. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769905002700403. ChrisWaldeck The Media Needle CC BY-NC 2.0. Originally focused on the mass media with its few-to-masses dynamic, theories of gatekeeping also now include the workings of face-to-face communication and the many-to-many dynamic now . Communication in the Real World by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Although these messages are diverse and no one person is exposed to all the same messages, the messages are still constructed in some predictable and patterned ways that create a shared social reality. These patterns are the first and foremost to influence gatekeeping. Long before digital technology challenged the assumptions of numerous theories, gatekeeping theory had. This theory is the basis for the transmission model of communication that we discussed in Chapter 1 Introduction to Communication Studies. Filed Under: Theories and Models Tagged With: Definitions and Examples of Theory, 2023 HealthResearchFunding.org - Privacy Policy, 14 Hysterectomy for Fibroids Pros and Cons, 12 Pros and Cons of the Da Vinci Robotic Surgery, 14 Pros and Cons of the Cataract Surgery Multifocal Lens, 11 Pros and Cons of Monovision Cataract Surgery. Yoshihide Nomura Watching TV CC BY-ND 2.0. Its similar to the way that we change behavior when we know certain people are around and may be watching us. Prez-Pea, R., Ousted Head of University Is Reinstated in Virginia, New York Times, June 26, 2012, accessed November 11, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/education/university-of-virginia-reinstates-ousted-president.html?pagewanted=all. Editors and other gatekeepers change the priority of news causing influence in society like racism, sexism, classism, etc. This is the issue gatekeeping theory tries to address: How do those who filter and select information decide what to keep, change, or ignore? thank you for that knowledge, am a student at Kampala international university Uganda on masters degree. The hypodermic needle theory of mass communication suggests that a sender constructs a message with a particular meaning that is injected into individuals within a mass audience. In the late 1970s and into the 1980s, a view of media effects as negotiated emerged, which accounts for the sometimes strong and sometimes weak influences of the media. Assumptions are the foci for any theory and thus any paradigm. Gatekeeping Theory in Transition To understand and address the challenges to gatekeeping theory, the basic assumptions of gatekeeping need to be clarified. For example, a blogger may take a story from a more traditional news source and fact check it or do additional research, interview additional sources, and post it on his or her blog. It includes organizations and technologies that are involved. Mass media evolves with the evolution of technology. One of the oldest social science theories applied to the study of communication, the gatekeeping approach emphasizes the movement of bits of information through channels, with an emphasis on decision points (gates) and decision-makers (gatekeepers). Gatekeeping refers to the idea that too many events occur for the media to cover all of them, so it must therefore choose which ones to specifically cover. In the early 1900s, views of mass communication were formed based on peoples observation of the popularity of media and assumptions that something that grew that quickly and was adopted so readily must be good.