Gatekeeping TheoryGatekeeping 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 process determines not only which information is selected, but also what the content and nature of messages, such as news, will be. Gatekeeping Theory describes the powerful process through which events are covered by the mass media, explaining how and why certain information either passes through gates or is closed off from media attention. This book is essential for understanding how even single, seemingly trivial gatekeeping decisions can come together to shape an audience’s view of the world, and illustrates what is at stake in the process. |
Contents
The Significance of Gatekeeping | 1 |
Part I Understanding Gatekeeping | 9 |
Part II GatekeepingLevels of Analysis | 31 |
Part III Theorizing about Gatekeeping | 109 |
About the Authors | 137 |
| 139 | |
| 165 | |
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Accuracy in Media advertisers agenda alternative media argues associationism audience availability heuristic Barack Obama Berkowitz boundary role characteristics cognitive communication organization concludes create culture decision-making deviance Downing Street memo economic editors elite environment evaluate example explain factors field theory function functionalist Gans gate gatekeeper’s gatekeeping decisions gatekeeping process Gatekeeping Theory groups groupthink heuristic ideas ideology important individual gatekeepers influence interaction issue journalism journalists Kurt Lewin level of analysis Lewin marketplace mass communication mass media media channel media content media gatekeepers media organizations newspaper newsroom newsworthiness norms online media organizational pass person political positive production pseudo-events public relations readers rely reporters representativeness heuristic role conception routines scholars second guessing selection shape Shoemaker & Cohen shows social structure social system Soloski sources stories suggests television thinking tion U.S. President values variables White’s