1

Gatekeeping & Framing Theory and Application to Current Social Media

Ashley Moore, Jie Yu, and Mincheol Shin

https://www.businesstopia.net/mass-communication/framing-theory-0https://www.businesstopia.net/mass-communication/gatekeeping-theory

2

Gatekeeping Theory

Gatekeeping is the process through which information is filtered for dissemination, whether for publication, broadcasting, the Internet, or some other mode of communication

The gatekeeper decides which information will go forward, and which will not. In other words a gatekeeper in a social system decides which of a certain commodity – materials, goods, and information – may enter the system. Important to realize is that gatekeepers are able to control the public’s knowledge of the actual events by letting some stories pass through the system but keeping others out. 

https://hadoopi.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/hadoop-filter-input-files-used-for-mapreduce/

3

Background: Founders

Kurt Lewin David White

http://totallyhistory.com/kurt-lewin/ http://jour515fall14.wikia.com/wiki/Gatekeeping

4

Background: Successors

Pamela Shoemaker Tim Vos

http://www.pamelashoemaker.com/about/shoemakerheadshot/ https://journalism.missouri.edu/staff/tim-p-vos/

5

Conceptual Model

Gatekeeping Process

Sub-Dimensions of a Concept Selected Concepts

https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Media,%20Culture%20and%20Society/gatekeeping/

6

Conceptual Model

(1) Important to realize is that gatekeepers are able to control the public’s knowledge of the actual events by letting some stories pass through the system but keeping others out. Therefore, it is more likely to say that the theory assumes audiences to be passive in terms of message reception. This is different from user or audience centered approach.

(2) Gatekeepers exist in many jobs, and their choices hold the potential to color mental pictures that are subsequently created in people’s understanding of what is happening in the world around them.

https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Media,%20Culture%20and%20Society/gatekeeping/

7

Extension of Gatekeeping and its Importance

The gatekeeping has the potential to be stretched to other well-known theories and shares significant conceptual variances with the following theories.

(1) Agenda Setting Theory: What to think about, filtered by gatekeepers(2) Cultivation Theory: The perception of what world would be like, selected and conveyed by media gatekeepers (3) Framing Theory: How we think about, filtered and manipulated by gatekeepers

8

Summary

1) A level of unit may vary upon the contexts but psychologically and theoretically we all are gatekeepers of our mind and messages

2) Communication is just all about filtering messages

3) Important concept in strategic communications (e.g., Marketing and persuasion)

Barzilai-Nahon, K. (2009). Gatekeeping: A Critical Review. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 43, 433-478

9

Framing Theory

https://polishedspeakers.wordpress.com/2016/03/29/framing-priming-presidential-campaign-ads/

10

Erving Goffman, 1922-1982Canadian-American sociologist and writer

Background: Founder

11

Agenda Setting vs. Framing

Agenda-setting Framing

The journalists select the most newsworthy topics

The journalists choose the way in which the news is brought, and the frame in which the news is presented

Tell the audience what to think about Affect the audience how to think about

Content Structure

12

Framing?

Frames are abstract notions that serve to organize or structure social meanings.

Frames influence the audience’s perception of the news, not only tells what to think about, but also how to think about it.

Framing can be seen as a second-step of Agenda-setting.

13

Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience (1974)

1) Frame analysis is the study of the organization of social experience.

2) Influence the audience’s interpretations.

Primary framework: Takes an individual's experience or an aspect of a scene that would originally be meaningless and makes it meaningful.

14

News Frame Effects

https://photofunia.com/effects/breaking-news

15

Information Effects

• A Frame unifies information into a package.

• These packages comprise arguments, information, symbols, metaphors, and images.

• Affect how people understand, interpret, and react to a problem or issue.

(Gamson & Modigliani, 1987).

16

Persuasion Effects

The presentations of content that can influence attitudes in a predictable direction.

Audiences of news frames are often not aware of the presence of frames and the influence they can wield

(e.g., Tewksbury, Jones, Peske, Raymond, & Vig, 2000).

17

Agenda-Setting Effects

Framing effects can be thought of as a second-step of agenda setting, after effects on perceived issue importance.

How news messages affect perceptions of both the importance of an issue and how the issue can be understood.

(McCombs, 2004)

18

Types of frames

• episodic vs. thematic frames

• human interest

• conflict

19

Human Interest

20

Conflict

21

Gatekeeping ApplicationJournalist Ordinary Parent

22

Soul Food Sunday

Kurt Lewin• Mom/wife shops for the food.• Prepares the food• Family eats the food• Mom/wife controls the gate

http://communicationtheory.org/gatekeeping-theory/Stacks, D. W., & Salwen, M. B. (Eds.). (2009). An integrated approach to communication theory and research. New York: Routledge.

23

Does Gatekeeping always ensure the public gets the right information?

24

Framing Application

• Muslim Ban• Trump uses framing by labeling

these places as places of terrorism

• Trump, in his statement Sunday, wrote those countries "are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror.“ – Washington Post

25

Politician vs. Journalist

26

Boston Globe vs. Barstool Sports

27

ReferencesFairhurst, G. & Star, R. (1996). The art of Framing. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1987). The changing culture of affirmative action. Research in Political Sociology, 3, 137–177.

McCombs, M. E. (2004). Setting the agenda: The mass media and public opinion. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Semetko, H. A., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2000). Framing European politics: A content analysis of press and television news. Journal of Communication, 50, 93-109.

Stacks, D. W., & Salwen, M. B. (Eds.). (2009). An integrated approach to communication theory and research. New York: Routledge.

Tewksbury, D., Jones, J., Peske, M., Raymond, A., & Vig, W. (2000). The interaction of news and advocate frames: Manipulating audience perceptions of a local public policy issue. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 77, 804–829.

University of Twente. GATEKEEPING. https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Media,%20Culture%20and%20Society/gatekeeping/