GateKeeping Theory

Kurt Zadek Lewin (1890-1947), was born in German. He was a great Psychologist and
pioneer in Social Psychology. He developed the concept in the field of psychology called
psychological “field” and “life space” in order to understand the human behavior and its
important consideration of total life space. His studies are more based on to understand a
person’s own world, physical, mental and social through frequent conversation between his
pre-memories, desire and his goals. And also his works help to understand the relationship
between attitudes and behavior in the group or individuals.

Kurt Lewin coins the word called “Gate keeping”. It’s nothing but to block unwanted or
useless things by using a gate. Here the person who make a decision is called “Gatekeeper”.
At first it is widely used in the field of psychology and later it occupies the field of
communication. Now it’s one of the essential theories in communication studies.

Concept:

The Gatekeeper decides what information should move to group or individual and what
information should not. Here, the gatekeeper are the decision makers who letting the whole
social system. 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 or a group and letting them in a right
path. In home mother plays the vital role and she has to decide what their kid’s needs and
what should avoid.

In news medium editor play vital role. He has to decide what kind of news items will publish
and what should not. Every day the news channel receives various news items from all over
the world. The channel have its own ethics and policies through this the editor decide the
news items for publish or aired. In some cases few news items are rejected by the editor due
the organizations policy or the news items which are not suitable for publish.

Example:
An international news channel receives numbers of news items within day like international
terror issues, UN discussions, Texas bull fighting and religious abuse on international
community.

A news channel can’t show all those news items to audience because it may affect the
channel reputation in public and organizations policy. Here, editor decides the news items
especially he can’t show the Texas bull fighting because it is not internationally popular
story. But the same time the news channel can’t show the religious abuses also because it
may hurt audience directly and it may affect organizations policy also. But international
terror issues and UN discussions are universal common news that won’t affect the channel
reputation in public and organizations policy.

News items:
N1: Texas bull fighting, N2: International terror issues, N3: UN discussions, N4: religious
abuse on international community
Gatekeeper:
Chief Editor

Selected News Items:

N2: International terror issues, N3: UN discussions,

Discarded News Items: (on popularity)

N1: Texas bull fighting

Discarded News Items: (on policy)

N4: Religious abuse on International community

Concepts in Gatekeeping Theory

Gatekeeping is the process of selection of information according to importance and relevance. The
information is also published according to the amount of importance the media wants the information
to have.
Gatekeepers establish a hierarchy of information which people need to look at as important and the
perceived to be a need. They have a great responsibility to provide unbiased, true information. Lewin
used “unfreeze – change – refreeze” approach for gatekeeping which suggests that information must
be edited after unfreezing it, changed what is says and then refreezed. The refreezed version is then
available to audiences.

Criteria of selecting depends on the issues that affect many people, controversial topics, and issues
that can be the most popular.

Factors of Gatekeeping
The factors that influence gatekeeping are:

 Individual:
Journalist who creates the report is the person who is the most influential to make the news
article. Other gatekeepers just change some aspects of the news but the reporter states truth.
 Routine:
The themes shown in the news and other media is always in a pattern. Media also have
schedules to follow and have allocated time for each category.
 Organization:
Media organizations have their own views, agendas and propaganda. They also have to follow
certain rules and ethics. The news or other media products has some elements of the media
house’s opinions and views.
 Extra-Media:
Many media related people and institutions have a say in what is published like sponsors,
advertisers, government, etc.
 Ideology:
The societal ideologies must be followed by media as it influences what is reported. The norms
and values of people must be respected by media. Similarly, ethical issues must also be taken
care of.
New technologies have let journalists to expand the number of audiences and increased the rate of
interactions with them(audience). Gatekeeping process has changed with it too as anyone can publish
anything. Though there are still issues of credibility.
Features of Gatekeeping Theory
 It is a process of selection and filtering of items for media and editing it as per the requirements
like limited time or space.
 The function of gatekeeping is surveillance.
 Gatekeeping sets the standard for newsworthiness.
 Editor who works as a gatekeeper changes news as the person has his/her own subjective
perceptions.
 Media plays a role of a watchdog.
 There are many factors for gatekeeping like the organizational policies.
 The theory is descriptive with normative traits.
 Information moves in a step by step process in a structure.
 It is also used as a social control for media influence.

Criticisms of Gatekeeping Theory

 The theory suggests there is only one gate, but in reality, there might be many.
 Gatekeepers themselves are wired to think in a specific way.
 Editors and other gatekeepers change the priority of news causing influence in society like
racism, sexism, classism, etc.
 It can cause negative presentations and abuse of power.
 The reality might not be shown as it is.
 The theory also has appeal as well as plausibility and applicability.
 Gatekeeping has become less in today’s news broadcast due to internet media and people
posting anything and everything.

Gatekeeping
According to Pamela Shoemaker and Boris Johnson, gatekeeping is the "process of
culling and crafting countless bits of information into the limited number of
messages that reach people everyday, and it is the center of the media's role in
modern public life. This process determines not only which information is selected,
but also what the content and nature of the messages, such as news, will be."
Origin of Gatekeeping

Kurt Lewin
Kurt Lewin, a German psychologist, developed the word gatekeeping. The theory
of channels and gatekeepers was introduced in Lewin's Field Theory of Social
Science in 1951. Lewin's theory was based on food. Lewin recognized that for food
to go from a store or a garden to the dining table, there were various decision-
making processes it had to pass on the way there. Entering or not entering a
channel and moving from one section of a channel to another is affected by a
‘gatekeeper’”. The gatekeeper in this case was typically the housewife, or
sometimes a maid in more affluent households. Lewin’s research demonstrated
that not all members of a family have equal weight in making household food
decisions, and that the wife, who typically shops for and prepares the food controls
the gates, based on a variety of considerations.

Lewin's Model

Lewin's gatekeeping model demonstrates that:

-Food reaches the table through channels e.g. grocery store.
-Some food items may be selected or not.
-Sections: multiple decision points
(Should the food be purchased or not?).
-Gate: the entrance to each channel or section of a channel.
-Movement from one channel to the next is determined by the gatekeeper.
-Positive and negative forces surround the gate.

Gatekeeping Model
Process of the gatekeeping model:
1. Information moves step by step through channels. The number of channels
varies and the amount of time in each channel can vary.
2. Information must pass a “gate” to move from one channel to the next.
3. Forces govern channels. There may be opposing psychological forces causing
conflict, which creates resistance to movement through the channel.

4. There may be several channels that lead to the same end result.
5. Different actors may control the channels and act as gatekeepers at different
times.

Westley & MacLean's Model

Westley and MacLean's model is based on Newcomb’s idea of co-orientation.

Multiple events (X), some are discovered by the sender (A), then travels to the mass
media (C -gatekeeper), then to the receiver (B).

David Manning White's Study

David Manning White, of the University of Iowa, developed the research agenda for
media gatekeeping. In 1949, Manning asked newspaper editor Mr. Gates to keep
all copy that came into his office from three wire services in one week. Gates
agreed to provide and explanation why rejected stories were not used. White’s
conclusion was that the selection decisions were “highly selective” and very
influential.
Levels of Media Gatekeeping
1. Individuals – Decisions are personal.
2. Routine Practices of Communication Work – Decisions are made according to a
pre-established and generalized set of practices.
3. Communication Organizations – Exists within an environment of social
institutions that affect the gatekeeping process.
4. Social Institutions – Events vary to a degree that they are culturally available as
news items.
5. Societies – Culture, indicators of social significance, including political,
influences selection decisions affecting the extent to which different parts of the
world are covered and how they are covered.

Gatekeeping Example

An international news channel receives numbers of news items within day like
international terror issues, UN discussions, Texas bull fighting and religious abuse
on international community.

A news channel can’t show all those news items to audience because it may affect
the channel reputation in public and organizations policy. Here, editor decides the
news items especially he can’t show the Texas bull fighting because it is not
internationally popular story. But the same time the news channel can’t show the
religious abuses also because it may hurt audience directly and it may affect
organizations policy also. But international terror issues and UN discussions are
universal common news that won’t affect the channel reputation in public and
organizations policy.

News items:

N1: Texas bull fighting, N2: International terror issues, N3: UN discussions, N4:
religious abuse on international community

Gatekeeper:

Chief Editor

Selected News Items:

N2: International terror issues, N3: UN discussions,

Discarded News Items: (on popularity)

N1: Texas bull fighting

Discarded News Items: (on policy)

N4: Religious abuse on International community

21st Century Gatekeeping

Shoemaker, Eichholz, Kim, and Wrigley studied the forces in news gatekeeping in
relation to coverage of Congressional bills. More specifically, they were interested
in two hypotheses: 1) the routine gatekeeping force of assessing a bill’s
newsworthiness will be related to how prominently a bill is covered. And 2) the
individual journalist forces (education, political ideology, work experience,
ethnicity, gender, voting behavior) will be related to how prominently a bill is
covered. They also predicted that the newsworthiness of a bill would be more
important than journalists’ personal characteristics. Surveying both journalists (for
their personal characteristics) and editors (for evaluating newsworthiness,
Shoemaker and her colleagues found that only newsworthiness had a significant
effect on the amount of coverage given to a bill, thus their first hypothesis was
supported as well as the idea that newsworthiness would be more important than
personal characteristics.