Gatekeeping

By Krassimir Tzvetanov, FORCES junior fellow
April 1, 2021

Gatekeeping and Agenda Setting are the two sides of a coin. While Agenda Setting is about introducing topics, gatekeeping is about the suppression of facts and views (Bastos et al., 2013). Just like Agenda setting, Gatekeeping can happen on different levels. From the journalist who makes a judgement what fact to omit from the story, to the editor-in-chief who blocks stories from being published.

It is also known as censorship, where in oppressive regimes certain stories are not published due to the state’s control.

Traditionally Gatekeeping has been observed and studied in mass communications, but it can also be observed on social media. In the next post we will explore how the Gatekeeping and Agenda Setting work on social media.

Recommended Reading

Bastos, M. T., Raimundo, R. L. G., & Travitzki, R. (2013). Gatekeeping Twitter: Message diffusion in political hashtags. Media, Culture & Society, 35(2), 260–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443712467594

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