Week 7: The Ones Who Control the World!!

Interesting title, I know. In all seriousness, the mass media nowadays controls the world in ways we don’t even realize. Reporters and bloggers can pick out which information they want to include in their reports or blogs and it could change the truth of the reality that happened in a particular event!

Gatekeeping my friends.

“Gatekeeping is the process through which information is filtered for dissemination, whether for publication, broadcasting, the Internet, or some other mode of communication.”  Barzilai-Nahon, K (2009)

Gatekeepers usually rely on information searches and retrieval skills as their secondary sources, rather than conducting a primary research. This could lead to inaccurate information and may only scratch the surface of what the story may actually be. They also can filter or edit their sources and prioritize what they want the public to see as important and other news seem as not newsworthy for the general public.

Let me give you an example of the power of media gatekeepers.

Do is more likely to go on a front page of an American newspaper?

  1. Murder of an abortion doctor in Wichita, Kan., by an alleged anti-abortion activist
  2. Murder of an Army recruiter and the wounding of another in Little Rock, Ark., by an alleged Muslim convert who is said to hate the U.S. military?

Both stories seem equivalent to each other, but nope, the news of the murder of the abortion doctor was spread across the American nation, even on television shows. And for the other murder story? Just the last few pages of a newspaper for one day.

Media gatekeepers can decide what to prioritize and focus more, based on political views. In the case above, the media gatekeepers paid more attention to the liberal side, rather than the conservative rights as the military has largely been a bedrock issue of the conservative right. Benedetto R. (2009)

Just don’t trust everything you read or watch online kids, you may never know how the media is tricking you to think and focus on.

Scary stuff.

 

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2 thoughts on “Week 7: The Ones Who Control the World!!”

  1. Gatekeepers do hold a great power to control what ever the media and news industries want to post. It is better if the gatekeepers did not have to stick to making the political aspects look better, it would be better to see the negatives of such aspects as it gives people more awareness of what to look for in the government. Are there any other incidents in which gatekeepers had failed to filter or keep negative information from the public?

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  2. The subtle control of the gatekeepers effectively helps them control what is on the media and thus, can effectively show whatever they want us to see and filter what they don’t want us to see. Sadly, everything is political nowadays and that is being taken advantage of. Scary.

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