The Journalist in the Network: A Shifting Rationale for the Gatekeeping Role and Objectivity Norms

The move to a networked media environment presents a range of challenges to journalistic routines, roles, and norms. This article suggests that professional ethics have evolved to articulate and safeguard a traditional gatekeeping role that no longer exists; as a result, the rationale behind those ethics must shift accommodate interconnections rather than discrete products and functions. Similarly, the notion of journalistic objectivity is open to renewed debate when detachment can translate to isolation from the rest of the network

Networked Gatekeeping and Networked Framing on Twitter Protests in Mexico about the Ayotzinapa Case

This research focuses on a Twitter protest about the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico in 2014 known as the Ayotzinapa case which used the hashtag #PaseDeLista1al43. Social network analysis, interviews and thematic analyses of 3,616 tweets were conducted to investigate how networked gatekeeping and networked framing processes occurred within this networked public. Results show that on this digital protest, elite and non-elite Twitter users were in charge of gatekeeping activities, collaborating to maintain the discussion of the topic of the missing students. The analysis of frames revealed that the protest sought to: humanize the case emphasizing the life of the students; assign responsibility; and portray itself as a way to take an active role and coping emotionally with the disappearance. This works contributes to the literature on networked publics, combining network analysis with interviews to look beyond the digital footprint of the protest to listen to the perspectives of protesters, providing an insight into the dynamics of gatekeeping and framing within a network. Given the porosity, openness, and permanence of Twitter, results from such collaborative relationship of elite and non-elite voices to protest about an issue are now harder to ignore in the public sphere

Networked Gatekeeping and Networked Framing on Twitter Protests in Mexico about the Ayotzinapa Case

This research focuses on a Twitter protest about the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico in 2014 known as the Ayotzinapa case which used the hashtag #PaseDeLista1al43. Social network analysis, interviews and thematic analyses of 3,616 tweets were conducted to investigate how networked gatekeeping and networked framing processes occurred within this networked public. Results show that on this digital protest, elite and non-elite Twitter users were in charge of gatekeeping activities, collaborating to maintain the discussion of the topic of the missing students. The analysis of frames revealed that the protest sought to: humanize the case emphasizing the life of the students; assign responsibility; and portray itself as a way to take an active role and coping emotionally with the disappearance. This works contributes to the literature on networked publics, combining network analysis with interviews to look beyond the digital footprint of the protest to listen to the perspectives of protesters, providing an insight into the dynamics of gatekeeping and framing within a network. Given the porosity, openness, and permanence of Twitter, results from such collaborative relationship of elite and non-elite voices to protest about an issue are now harder to ignore in the public sphere

Gatekeeping Practices of Participants in a Digital Media Literacy Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

abstract: Long before “fake news” dominated the conversation within and about the media, media literacy advocates have championed the need for media literacy education that provides the tools for people to understand, analyze, and evaluate media messages. That the majority of U.S. adults now consume news on social media underscores the importance for students of all ages to be critical users of media. Furthermore, the affordances of social media to like, comment, and share news items within one’s network increases an individual’s responsibility to ascertain the veracity of news before using a social media megaphone to spread false information. Social media’s shareability can dictate how information spreads, increasing news consumers’ role as a gatekeeper of information and making media literacy education more important than ever. This research examines the media literacy practices that news consumers use to inform their gatekeeping decisions. Using a constant comparative coding method, the author conducted a qualitative analysis of hundreds of discussion board posts from adult participants in a digital media literacy Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to identify major themes and examine growth in participants’ sense of responsibility related to sharing news information, their feeling of empowerment to make informed decisions about the media messages they receive, and how the media literacy tools and techniques garnered from the MOOC have affected their daily media interactions. Findings emphasize the personal and contextual nature of media literacy, and that those factors must be addressed to ensure the success of a media literacy education program.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Journalism and Mass Communication 201

The changing ecology of news: the impact of social networking sites on the production of news and the gatekeeping role of legacy media editors

The media landscape is changing, especially as more and more media audiences embrace social networking sites and consume their news content from social networking sites. Even as media organizations grapple with declining operations due to their traditional models of operation, media editors face a myriad of challenges, including competing with citizen journalism as they push to maintain and retain their journalistic duty of gatekeeping. In the face of the changing ecology of news, this study sought to establish the impact of social networking sites on the production of news and on the gatekeeping role of legacy media editors. The objectives were to assess the contribution of social networking sites to selection of news by legacy media, to establish patterns in the production of legacy media news in the era of social networking sites, and to examine the gatekeeping roles of legacy media editors in the wake of digital disruption. The gatekeeping theory and the networked gatekeeping theory formed the theoretical framework. The researcher adopted a qualitative research approach and a descriptive research design. The sample size of digital editors was arrived at through purposive sampling, and in-depth interviews were employed to generate data. The study established that social networking sites impact the production process of news and play a part in the selection of news by legacy media in Kenya. It also found that social networking sites have resulted in emergent patterns in news production and that feedback received from social networking sites impacts decisions made by editors in legacy media newsrooms. The study concluded that social networking sites have created an avenue for audiences to be part of the prod news production by legacy media newsrooms in Kenya even as legacy media editors are adopting newer strategies afloat and keeping up with the digital disruption. The researcher recommended setting journalistic standards for dealing with content from social networking sites and having l journalism stakeholders adhere to the standards as they embrace emergent patterns in their operations

The return of the social author: negotiating authority and influence on Wattpad

The rise in self-publishing, digital folk culture and social media participation, have revolutionized reading and writing practices. Readers can directly contact their favourite authors, and publishers, through social media and become authors, and publishers, themselves. One of the outcomes of digital reading and writing is that writing is now becoming more democratic: traditional publishers are no longer the sole gatekeepers of culture. The popularity of social writing platform Wattpad is a recent example of how a new generation of influential and innovative writers is entering the publishing arena. This also demonstrates that there is a demand for authorship without the intervention from publishers. Despite this, traditional notions of authorship, ownership and control are prevalent in contemporary publishing hindering the true potential of creativity. The disharmony between the rise of the amateur author and the control of the traditional publisher is confronted in the digital public sphere. Consequently, issues such as authority and influence are mediated during the activities and interactions that take place on social media and other online platforms. Established authority figures, such as famous authors or well-known publishers, that exert authority and influence in the traditional sphere, can shift this authority and influence to the digital world; however, this sphere is also occupied by emerging networks of influencers, such as emerging authors or micro-celebrities, who gain popularity as a result of specific trends, in specific domains, at specific times. This article will examine how new and established authors are using social platforms, and social media, to publish their writing, build communities and extend their dialogue with readers and other writers. A netnographic study of Wattpad will identify which authors are the influencers and innovators in social publishing. Consequently, this article will underscore the increasing importance of social networks and social relationships in 21st century publishing

Hashtags for Gatekeeping of Information on Social Media

Since the inception of gatekeeping research in the 1940s, most studies on gatekeeping have been human‐centric, treating and studying individuals as gatekeepers, who perform their gatekeeping role using a combination of the following mechanisms: forming communities, and/or broadcasting, discovering‐searching, collecting, organizing, or protecting information. However, the nature of communication channels and how information is produced by and shared with users has fundamentally changed in the last 80 years. One significant change is the growing use of technology‐enabled metadata like hashtags when sharing information on social media. Rarely any study investigates whether hashtags can perform gatekeeping of information and what it means for information gatekeeping. This paper fills in the gap by conducting a content analysis of 77 interdisciplinary studies on hashtags and gatekeeping to confirm how they can implement six gatekeeping mechanisms. This study shows that hashtags expand our understanding of the role of technology solutions in gatekeeping and advance research on hierarchical gatekeeping. The benefits of hashtags for gatekeeping suggest that they act as “information anchors” for online communities, thereby highlighting the utility of information gatekeepers for society

A citizen journalism primer

Citizen journalism is a hot topic at present, but there remains a degree of conceptual wooliness about its definition and meaning, with everything from lifestyle blogs to live footage of freak weather events being included in this category. This paper will identify factors underpinning the emergence of citizen journalism, including the rise of Web 2.0, rethinking journalism as a professional ideology, the decline of ‘high modernist’ journalism, divergence between elite and popular opinion, changing revenue bases for news production, and the decline of deference in democratic societies. It will consider case studies such as the Korean OhMyNews web site, and connect these issues to wider debates about the implications of journalism and news production increasingly going into the Internet environment

Digital Media and Youth: Unparalleled Opportunity and Unprecedented Responsibility

Part of the Volume on Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility This chapter argues that understanding credibility is particularly complex -- and consequential -- in the digital media environment, especially for youth audiences, who have both advantages and disadvantages due to their relationship with contemporary technologies and their life experience. The chapter explains what is, and what is not, new about credibility in the context of digital media, and discusses the major thrusts of current credibility concerns for scholars, educators, and youth