The Progressive Era

    Antiwar.com is a website that devotes itself to opposing imperialism and war. Opposing war is a big position to take, but why do we not hear about these people? We don't hear big mainstream news like CNN or FOX talk about the people trying to make sure that all of our troops aren't set out to their deaths.

    To answer the question on why their voices are silent we are going to have to go back in time. The United States government has a long history of silencing anti-war voices. In 1918, the government passed the sedition act which was a way to punish anti-war protestors. This act made it illegal to criticize the government. As you can guess, people did not like it. They stated that their opinion and voice was protected by the First Amendment. However, the government argued that it wasn't because of a new term they created in the act called incitement which is described as a speech that causes violent actions. As they thought that people protesting against the war would be a bad thing. They didn't want to hear any people talking about anti-war especially when they just joined World War 1. 

    To finish answering the question on why voices like Antiwar.com along with The American Conservative are silenced is simply because the government doesn’t want you to hear it. Whenever there is a war there will always be a group of people that will fight for anti-war but they are always silenced as both the government and other mainstream news outlets that look at anti-war in a negative mindset. This is unfortunate as seeing and learning from both sides of the argument is the best way to find out if you believe you are on the right side or not through your own opinions. This just isn’t the case here since we only get one side and that shortens our view on the issue which is exactly what the government and mainstream outlets want.

EOTO Terms and Concepts: Gatekeeping

    The gatekeeping theory is “the control of information as it passes through a gate”. This metaphorical “gate'' is guarded by gatekeepers who will make decisions based on what information to let through and what to keep out. In other words “gatekeeping is the process of selecting, and then filtering, items of media to be presented to an audience.” Gatekeeping often gets mixed up with censorship. Gatekeeping is maintaining the quality of the content and its relevance while censorship is just the removal of them. 

    Kurt Lewin who was a German psychologist first originated the concept of gatekeeping in 1943. He discovered this by using a housewife to illustrate how an individual determines which meals are served at the dinner table. Everyone knows that there is a lot of decision-making when it comes to food. Such as what you want to get, what are you actually buying, preparing, and cooking the meal. In this example, the wife normally had the food decisions and typically controlled the gate or rather what everyone will have for dinner. 

    Gatekeeping was further studied in 1950 by David White, a journalist who looked through all of the factors that an editor takes into consideration when deciding what news story to publish. In his study, he found that the editor chooses what article to publish based on its worthiness, importance to the audience, and the political attitudes of the editor. When the research concluded the editor mainly picks news stories to publish based on their own beliefs, attitudes, or experiences. 

    There are five factors of gatekeeping. The first one is “Individual”. This is where the journalist who is reporting the news has the most influence over the article as they can edit the story based on their personal preferences. “Routine” is the second one and what this means is that they must keep up with their schedules and preferably make time for different categories. Different “Organizations” take a news story and interpret it differently than the other with their different views and bias. “Third-Party Media” or “Extra Media'' is when someone with wealth and/or power like sponsors, advertisers, or the government can manipulate the gates to allow their information to get through. This is unfortunate as media companies can be influenced by financial support. The final factor is “Ideology” where the norms and values of people must be respected.

    Along with the five factors of gatekeeping comes the five criteria that journalists rely on when they choose a story to publish. The first criteria is “Strong Impact''. This is when they take local stories that impact the public more than unfamiliar international events. So they can grab attention more easily. Next is a “Captivating Topic”. These are typically violent or disastrous events. “Familiarity” gets more attention if they make the issues about the public or concern a large audience. “Proximity” is when people get local news stories. The fifth criteria is “Timeliness and Novelty”. News stories show something that doesn’t happen every day. 

    We need gatekeeping now more than ever as we see more clickbait, fake news, and misinformation. With the rise of fake news has also given rise to a new form of gatekeeping called audience gatekeeping. Audience gatekeeping is when the users share the news items or comment on them based on their own opinion. This allows regular online users to tell the stories from their point of view. I hope that eventually, we will reach a point in the media that is unbiased, truthful, and honest. 

Sources:

Gatekeeping Theory | Mass Communication Theory (masscommtheory.com)

GATEKEEPING - Media theory (weebly.com)

GateKeeping Theory (communicationtheory.org)

The Origin of Gatekeeping Theory | GatekeepinginOnlineJournalism Wiki | Fandom

Gatekeeping Theory of Mass Communication Explained - HRF (healthresearchfunding.org)

EOTO Presentation React: The first the American Newspaper

    

One thing that I learned from the other people's presentation was the very first American Newspaper by Caroline Peacock. The first newspaper in America was only printed once because it was banned by the British Governor Council just four days after publication. It was printed by Richard Pierce and edited by Benjamin Harris in Boston on September 25, 1690. Harris owned a coffee house and came up with the idea of a newspaper through his customers who often talked about politics. It was made so that people can read the newspaper while drinking their coffee. All of which I found so fascinating that this is the origin of the American newspaper. Having to fight through British control just to allow people to access to what is going on in the world is incredible.