Download Gatekeeping | Gatewatching

Journalism 101
Reynolds School of Journalism
September 2010
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“A regime of control over what content is
allowed to emerge from the production
processes in print and broadcast media; the
controllers (journalists, editors, owners) of
these media…control the gates through
which content is released to their audiences.”
(Axel Bruns, Gatewatching, p.11)
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News organizations have to limit the amount
of information they gather and distribute;
they can’t gather and report everything.
We all use filters to organize and limit the
amount of news and information we process
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The question is whether our filters are
deliberate, accessible and open to
adjustment
Or whether they are unconscious, out of our
control or systematically arranged to prevent
certain ideas from reaching the public
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Censorship acts as a gate to prevent certain
ideas from reaching the public
This Iranian-Canadian blogger was just
sentenced to 19 years in prison for blogging
about Iranian politics:
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This is “Banned Books” week. Excerpts of
banned books will be read tonight at 6 pm in
the Knowledge Center
Banned Book Reading
In this week’s Sagebrush, VP Steven Zink says
they are considering “temporarily shutting
off areas of Internet access” on campus to
reduce music piracy
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Favors some groups over others, some places
more than other places
Promotes some ideals more than others
Covers some kinds of news more than other
kinds
Is influenced by economic concerns
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In the newsgathering stage
In the news publishing stage
In the response stage
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Gatekeeping differs between books,
newspapers and magazines (pull media), and
radio and television (pull media).
What is the Web? Cell phones? ipads?
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Alters the gatekeeping practices of journalists
The question of ‘what is appropriate’ always
lingers
“Our involvement in a story can change
things forever”
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Large number of news outlets
Low barriers to entry
24/7 availability
Global access to sources
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Secrets are very difficult to keep
Anyone can publish any time
Control moves from the publisher to the
audience, from the source to the receiver,
from the institution to the individual
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“Gatewatchers” observe the output gates of
news publications and other sources in order
to identify important material as it becomes
available
We need order, surveillance, warning systems
to alert us; information for action, decision
making; culture for connection and
community
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Enable individuals to select their own set of
“gatewatchers” to follow, read and share
Gatewatchers can be ‘citizen editors,’
professional journalists, experts, friends with
similar interests
We also perform our own gatewatching of
primary sources
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See the videos posted on our wiki site (under
Sept. 29)
Here’s the most basic:“How to use Twitter”
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A human rights journalist working for Mother
Jones magazine
Mac McClelland tweets her reporting
experiences
She is in Haiti covering the aftermath of the
earthquake; violence against women is a
terrible problem in the temporary tent camps
(Interviews with victims)
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The journalist, who will write an in-depth
story for Mother Jones magazine, is tweeting
about her experiences of reporting in Haiti.
@MacMcClelland (Twitter account)
She twittered an interview she conducted
with a rape victim, including going with her to
the doctor
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Mother Jones’ editor, Clara Jeffrey, gave her
approval for the journalist to tweet the story.
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Journalist level: She had to decide whether to
use Twitter or not
Editor level: She had to decide whether to let
the journalist twitter or not
Distribution level: Haiti and Twitter have to
decide whether to block communication
Receiver level: The receiver has to decide
whether to subscribe to the tweets or not
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It’s the responsibility of the individual
journalist to avoid sensationalism, possible
exploitation
It’s the responsibility of the news
organization to avoid potentially offensive
or harmful communication
It’s the responsibility of the individual to set
his or her own filters
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Get in a group of like-minded students
Share your reasons for why you support that
particular level of filter.
Have someone record the reasons.
Have someone volunteer to articulate the
reasons to the rest of the class.
You have ____ minutes to do this.