Gatekeeping in the Digital Age - a view

Gatekeeping in the Digital Age - a view

POINTS from 
Christopher Harper, Journalism in a Digital Age  

http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/papers/harper.html.



For the past 20 years, Tom Cekay [Chicago Tribune]has been what's known as a "gatekeeper," a critical role in the way a medium sets agendas. That means Cekay is an editor who determines what gets through the "gate" into the newspaper for the reader to see. For years, the gatekeeper has been one of the most powerful people in the media, highlighting particular stories, promoting trends, sorting the journalistic wheat from the chaff, and some would argue restricting the flow of information. Will that role change in the digital age?

Researchers [Pamela Shoemaker. "Gatekeeping." Sage Publications: Newbury Park,1991.] found a set of factors that often determine what news gets into the media. Cekay finds some--but not all--of the gatekeeper's role applicable to digital journalism.

• Intensity of threshold value. Events are more likely to pass through the media gates if they are of great magnitude or if they have recently increased in magnitude. Cekay says: "That's one thing we do very well. When it's a major breaking story, this is a perfect medium to put out a lot of information."

• Unexpectedness. Cekay agrees that unexpected stories provide interesting material for any medium, including a digital one.

• Sociocultural values. Values of both the gatekeepers and their readership can also influence selection.11 "I think news judgment is affected because you appreciate the importance of a story. If you had a serious illness, you realize how people are affected by it. If you're 24, you may not appreciate that people have to deal with things like that. If it's model rocketry, you know there are people out there who care about model rocketry. Otherwise, you're taking your intelligence out of the mix."

• Continuity. If an event or news story passes through the media gate once, it is likely that it will pass through the gate again. Cekay agrees: "That's why it's important to think about what you do the first time."

• Cultural proximity or relevance. The media are most likely to accept news events that have close cultural relevance for the audience. "I want to be very careful about creating a self-fulfilling prophecy where we are saying what the people say they want and in doing so we become an exclusive site that is not for the public at large. I want to make sure we're not narrowcasting. I want to make certain my mother is interested in what we put on this site, and my little boy is interested in what we put on this site. And I want to make sure my neighbor does and the guy on the other side of the state who's a farmer."

Following are the elements that Cekay said he believes do not apply to online publications:

• Time span. Events that coincide within the time frame of publication are more likely to pass through media gates. Digital journalism allows constant updates, so timing plays a limited role in his decisions.

• Clarity or lack of ambiguity. Events whose meaning is in doubt are less likely to pass through media gates. Cekay thinks this tenet plays virtually no role in digital or traditional journalism. "I think that there are few things that are that clear cut that we cover in the news business."

• Consonance. Events that are congruent with an expectation are most likely to pass through media gates. "I am much more interested in the unexpected," Cekay argues.

• Composition. Because gatekeepers look at the day's news in its entirety, some news items are selected merely because they contrast with others. "I don't really worry about that," he observes.



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• So far, digital journalism has not developed its own rules and procedures, Cekay says, simply because the craft is too young.
• One significant advantage of this new medium is the ability to let the reader into the process.