Gatekeeping in Transition

Book excerpt: Much of what journalism scholars thought they knew about gatekeeping—about how it is that news turns out the way it does—has been called into question by the recent seismic economic and technological shifts in journalism. These shifts come with new kinds of gatekeepers, new routines of news production, new types of news organizations, new means for shaping the news, and new channels of news distribution. Given these changing realities, some might ask: does gatekeeping still matter? In this internationally-minded anthology of new gatekeeping research, contributors attempt to answer that question. Gatekeeping in Transition examines the role of gatekeeping in the twenty-first century from organizational, institutional, and social perspectives across digital and traditional media, and argues for its place in contemporary scholarship about news and journalism.