Varieties of Online Gatekeeping

Abstract

Digital intermediaries like search engines and social networking sites are increasingly important for how people find and access news, though most of the news people use continue to be produced by news media organizations. In this paper, I outline a differentiated approach to the varieties of online gatekeeping we encounter today that recognize the growing importance of a range of secondary forms of gatekeeping (link-based, affinity-based, and audience-based) while retaining a focus on the still important role of primary gatekeepers — news media organizations that continue to play a central role as editorial gatekeepers that by filtering and publishing information makes it news as most people understand it. Far from the “collapse of gatekeeping” some had hypothesized, the digital media environment is characterized by the continuing relevance of traditional forms of primary gatekeeping as well as the increased importance of new forms of secondary gatekeeping, especially in terms of the role of a few very globally dominant digital intermediaries.