GATE KEEPING

PRESENTERS…..

MASHAL MALHIMARIYA IQBALSAIRA KHAN

CONTENTS…..INTRODUCTIONGATEKEEPING IN MEDIAGATEKEEPERSGATEKEEPERS IN MEDIAHISTORYSCHOLARS’ VIEWSCORE ASSUMPTIONS AND STATEMENTSTYPES OF GATEKEEPINGFECTORS EFFECTING ON GATE KEEPINGGATE KEEPING PROCESSFUNCTIONS OF GATEKEEPINGBENEFITSCRITICISMCONCLUSION

Introduction “Gatekeeping is a selection process in which all the

information within a medium is organized by level of importance by a person or group in order to determine how much of that information gets published.”

“The activity of controlling, and usually limiting,

general access to something.”

GATEKEEPING IN MEDIA…..Gatekeeping is a media term used to describe

the filtering of stars and coverage through television and print.

This derives from the gate in a camera through which the film has to pass before it is broadcast to the targeted audience.

A message has to pass through many gates (filters) before it reaches its audience. This means that a selection of media topics are chosen to be presented to different audiences through different forms of media.

Gatekeepers: One that is in chargeof passage through a gate.

One who monitors or oversees the actions of others.

Gatekeepers in media….. Gatekeepers in the media are the same. They have many more messages --stories, ads, movies, television shows, songs, etc.--to send than they can accommodate. So they decide which messages get through, which stories will appear in today's paper, which television shows will be broadcast, which songs to broadcast, etc. Newspaper editors, news directors, and others in the media . The gatekeeper is having its own influence like social,

cultural, ethical and political. Based on personal or social influences they let the information to the group. Through this process the unwanted, sensible and controversial information’s are removed by the gate keeper which helps to control the society.

History!...... The first use of  “gatekeeping” term was in 1947 by Kurt Lewin, psychologist. His

studies focused on how a person behavior changed when they are connected with a group of people.

He used this term to describe a wife or mother as the person who decides which foods end up on the family's dinner table. (Lewin, 1947). The gatekeeper is the person who decides what shall pass through each gate section, of which, in any process, there are several. Although he applied it originally to the food chain, he then added that the gating process can include a news item winding through communication channels in a group. This is the point from which most gatekeeper studies in communication are launched.

White (1961) was the person who seized upon Lewin's comments and turned it solidly toward journalism in 1950.

In the 1970s McCombs and Shaw took a different direction when they looked at the effects of gatekeepers' decisions. They found the audience learns how much importance to attach to a news item from the emphasis the media place on it. McCombs and Shaw pointed out that the gatekeeping concept is related to the newer concept, agenda-setting. (McCombs et al, 1976). The gatekeeper concept is now 50 years old and has slipped into the language of many disciplines, including gatekeeping in organizations.

Scholars’ overview

David Mann White (1950) suggested the selection process in newspapers and argued that news items were rejected for three reasons:

1.personal feelings of the gatekeeper

2. insufficient space

3. The story had appeared previously

David Manning White’s adaptation of the gate keeping model

N-Sources of newsN1,N2,N3,N4-News itemsN1,N4-Discarded newsN2,N3-Selected newsM-AudienceO-Gates

Pamale Shoe maker • Gatekeeping is “the process of culling and crafting

countless bits of information into the limited number of messages that reach people each day. . .” the center of the mass media’s role in society.

Maxwell mcCombs and Donald Shaw• 1970 Maxwell mcCombs and Donald Shaw

pointed out that the gate keeping concept is related to newer agenda setting theory.

Bass double action model of news.. Presented in 1969

He explained that… the process of gatekeeping is

divided into two folds! News gathering News processing

Process…………..

Raw news

News gatherin

g

News copy

News processi

ng

Complete

product

RAW NEWS-e.g(writer,reporter,source,editor)NEWS Processing-e.g(editor,copy reader,translator)

Core Assumptions and statements

The gatekeeper decides which information will go forward, and which will not.

In other words a gatekeeper in a social system decides which of a certain commodity – materials, goods, and information – may enter the system. Important to realize is that gatekeepers are able to control the public’s knowledge of the actual events by letting some stories pass through the system but keeping others out.

Conti…….Gatekeepers can also be seen as institutions or organizations.

In a political system there are gatekeepers, individuals or institutions which control access to positions of power and regulate the flow of information and political influence.

Gatekeepers exist in many jobs, and their choices hold the potential to color mental pictures that are subsequently created in people’s understanding of what is happening in the world around them.

Media gatekeeping showed that decision making is based on principles of news values, organizational routines, input structure and common sense.

Gatekeeping is vital in communication planning and almost al communication planning roles include some aspect of gatekeeping.

conti…..There are not hard and fast rules for

gatekeeping.It varies from country to country, culture to culture and also depends on policy of particular newspaper or news channels that to choose or discard a news.

One can say that the process of gatekeeping is very important at both news gathering and news processing stage.

It is interesting fact that the audience also act as gatekeepers, when they select or reject the information considering their interest and tempts.

The gatekeeper’s choices are a complex web of influences, preferences, motives and common values. Gatekeeping is inevitable and in some circumstances it can be useful.

Gatekeeping can also be dangerous, since it can lead to an abuse of power by deciding what information to discard and what to let pass. Nevertheless, gatekeeping is often a routine, guided by some set of standard questions.

Gatekeeping regulate the flow of information.

TYPES OF GATEKEEPING

In Newspaper

• Reporters• Editors• Owners• Government • Pressure Groups

intentional

•Producer• Censor Board• Director

In Film

Types……

In Newspaper

• If reporter is not allowed to enter because time is over.

•Lack of space for editor for publishing of news

In Film

• Script is too large.

• Budget .

unintentional

Factors effecting on gatekeeping!!!Ideology….. ideology of any country force the reporters

or anyone involved in any matter or publishing news ,to be loyal and stop the news that is not good for the solidarity of the country.

E.g….any Israeli newspaper wil not write against Holocaust.

Policies….. Every newspaper and channel has its own

policy to whom against they can’t write or broadcast any unfavorable material,infact they filter out the news.

E.g…..Nawa-i-waqt supports Muslim league so don’t criticize it in any decision.

Cont…………

Social values…. It effects the process of objectivity.Any such

news will not be appreciated which clashes or colides with social, cultural values of any society or country.

Personal feelings…. If a reporter has his personal feelings

involved with the matter ,any relation with the victim, the process of gate keeping affects editor is the ultimate power to effect the news.

Process of gate keeping…… Such news that collides with the ideology, social

values, culture and personal relations, will not be published. Any such news will be stopped,pend,manipulate,

content and time of the day is interpreted in such a way so to change or mild down the effect and meaning of the news. Gate keeping is widely used in mass media to protect personal interests and relations. But with the passage of time the reader is becoming smatter and smatter and one understands quickly the purpose of the news published or even not published .Gate keeping can lost its value and one will has to give importance to objectivity and coplete truth.

Scope and Application This theory is related to the mass media and organizations. In

the mass media the focus is on the organizational structure of newsrooms and events. Gatekeeping is also an important in organizations, since employees and management are using ways of influence.Moreover it is being used in……

information science Management political sciencecommunication studies Law Public affairs Sociology

Example A wire service editor decides alone what news audiences will

receive from another continent. The idea is that if the gatekeeper’s selections are biased, the readers’ understanding will therefore be a little biased.

Functions of gatekeeping To limit the information To expand the information To reinterpret the information Setting Agenda

benefits

Criticism

Abuse of powerAgenda setting effects

Conclusion Gate keeping is a process of how

information moves from source to receiver. The gate keeping studies is the process that forces operating on more than individuals levels, also the routine level play a important role in the decision of journalistic making. When gatekeepers possess have values such as transparency and honesty the result is targeted information, otherwise gatekeeping is used for personal gain.

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