How Way-Finding is Challenging Gatekeeping in the Digital Age

Abstract

This paper re-evaluates the relevance of the gatekeeping framework in the twenty-first century, arguing that in an age of digital journalism the gatekeeping metaphor has begun to restrict our study of journalism. Reviewing current research and utilizing a variety of surveys, case studies and theoretical work, the paper proposes a new framework. It argues that rather than online journalism studies focusing on the packaging of a news product by a news source (gatekeeping), it should instead focus on the paths taken by news users to individual stories via search engines, gatewatchers and social media (way-finding). To support this, five key areas of change are investigated: the increased capacity for storing and publishing news; new tools for news creation; increased use of aggregators and gatewatchers; competition on a story-by-story basis; and immediate audience feedback.