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.
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