The Gatekeepers 01 28 2013 Definition of gate keeping News items travel through certain communication channels Certain areas of the channels function as gates These gates are governed by whoever is in power making the decisions of in and out The chain of gate keepers Reporter rewriter bureau chief state file editor wire editor etc etc o Out of date from 1950s article but the logic of the chain still exists This process of choosing and discarding is continuously taking place GK articles tells us How highly subjective how reliant upon value judgments based on the gate keepers own set of experiences attitudes and expectations the communication of news really is Audience The reading public all of the gatekeepers standards tastes all refers back to an audience who must be served and pleased Average intelligence with a variety of abilities and interests A balance of news that pleases them and news that informs them of what s going on in the world Audience is the most important link in gate keeping Psycho analysis People tend to perceive as true only those happenings which fit into their own beliefs concerning what is likely to happen The community shall hear as a fact only those events which the newsman as the representative of his culture believes to be true 01 28 2013 01 28 2013