In human communication, in particular, in journalism, gatekeeping is the process through which ideas and information are filtered for publication. The internal decision making process of relaying or withholding information from the media to the masses. The theory was first instituted by social psychologist Kurt Lewin in 1947 and is still one of the most important theories studied by students of mass communication and journalism. Gatekeeping occurs at all levels of the media structure - from a reporter deciding which sources are chosen to include in a story to editors deciding which stories are printed, or even covered.
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Although Kurt Lewin coined the phrase gatekeeping, it was first applied to the study of news by one of his assistants, David Manning White. In a 1950 study he examined copy submitted to a small city daily newspaper during a one week period in 1949. The editor of the newspaper provided information on why stories were rejected. White found the decision making process to be 'highly subjective'. Although there was much criticism of White's conclusion, his study led to further research in the area of gatekeeping.[1]
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