Gatekeeping refers to the process
of filtering out unnecessary information on news outlets and other media.
Sometimes this is used to filter out irrelevant or conflicting information.
Long story short, gatekeeping only shows the information that is important to
us. Sometimes this can be good, sometime it is bad. For an example of good
gatekeeping, news outlets might examine clickbait or hateful articles toward a
corporation to see if there is genuine evidence to the situation or if it is
just defamation. In other words, good gatekeeping keeps fake news filtered out
of our news feed.
Bad gatekeeping can be a tricky
subject as well. While it can keep misinformation away from us, gatekeeping can
sometimes distract from negative information. For example, some news source
could be setting a political agenda and intentionally keeping criticism from
being released to the public. This could affect our society as a whole by
sending us some of the truth rather than the whole truth. Where we should see
the light and dark sides of things, some news outlets might only show one side
or the other.
With this being the case, news
outlets could be tricking me without me even realizing this. For example, I
could be watching the news on my TV and the headlines could be absolutely the
truth. However, there is always the possibility that certain news is just being
faked or refocused so that we think a certain way. While I generally consider
gatekeeping to be a good thing for us, I am sure that some outlets might misuse
it.
