The development of gatekeeper

During the period of 1947, Lei Wen, a social psychologist, studied and analyzed the process of housewives' decision to buy food and recommend food to their families in the article "Channels of Group Life", and thought that information was spread along some channels containing "doors", and whether the communication could be carried out smoothly always depended on the opinions of "gatekeepers". In the article "interpersonal relationship", the word "gatekeeper" was pioneered. In "Channels of Group Life", he pointed out: "Information always flows along some doorways. In these channels, it is decided whether to allow information or goods to enter or continue to flow in the channels according to fair regulations or personal opinions of' gatekeepers'." "The information dissemination network is full of gatekeepers." He believes that there are some gatekeepers in the process of group communication, and only information content that meets the group norms or gatekeeper value standards can enter the communication channel. 1950 white, a communication scholar, introduced the concept of sociology into news communication, and found that in news reports of mass communication, media organizations become "gatekeepers" in practice, and they decide what content will eventually meet the audience. Since then, the "gatekeeper" theory of news selection has changed from people's unconscious behavior to the intentional operation of mass media organizations, which has influenced news practice to a greater extent.

After Lei Wen put forward the concept of "gatekeeper", many researchers dug deep along this idea and formed a series of gatekeeper theories, among which D.M.White's research results are the most classic. His research results can be expressed by a formula: "input information-output information = check filtered information". That is to say, by comparing the input information with the output information, we can examine how the information is screened and filtered in the specific check-up link. White's theory adopts the method of case study, paying attention to gatekeepers, highlighting the core of gatekeeper behavior and deepening the discussion of gatekeepers, which is the main value of White's research. However, its outstanding shortcoming is that it overemphasizes the personal authority of the gatekeeper and ignores the inevitability and sociality of the formation of various exchanges.

McNealy's gatekeeper theory is the development and perfection of White's research. By studying the process of international news flow, he reveals that there are "a series of gatekeepers" between news sources and destinations, news events and final recipients, which is by no means a lonely "door area" shown by White model. In addition, there are some breakthroughs in gatekeeper research, such as Gao Erdun and Lurgi's "selective gatekeeper theory" and Murphy's "silent watchdog theory". This kind of gatekeeper research has a common feature, that is, the flow of information dissemination is one-way, and professional communicators control the killing and seizing power of information and play an important role in the process of information circulation.

After deep excavation and research by many scholars such as White and McEnelly, it finally became one of the most scientific theories in the field of communication control analysis. Professional janitor

Professional janitor. Such as Xinhuanet, People's Daily, Qianlong Daily and Sichuan Online. The similarity of these websites is that almost all of them have traditional media as the background. Xinhuanet relies on Xinhua News Agency, the largest news agency in China, People's Daily, Qianlong News Network relies on many news media in Beijing, and Sichuan Online relies on Sichuan Daily. They all have the brand advantages of traditional media and rich news resources-talents, experience, facilities and other software and hardware. At first, when the traditional media went online, the contents on these news websites were almost copies of the original media, and there was no innovation. With the gradual maturity of professional news websites, these websites have been greatly improved. As long as you open the above websites and compare them with the traditional media they rely on, you will find that the online content is rich and timely. This kind of website is actually an extension of traditional media on the Internet, so like its parent media, they naturally have the right to interview and publish news information. They are strict gatekeepers in the network, and we can call them professional gatekeepers.

Secondary gatekeeper

The second level checks tens of thousands of commercial websites on the Internet. Such as Sina, Sohu, Netease and so on. As netizens are familiar with, their news center is playing the role of the fourth media-releasing news in the fastest way. At present, many netizens set Sina as the default homepage of their computers. They usually don't buy newspapers, watch TV or listen to the radio. They want to know the news and current affairs and browse several major commercial websites. This shows the great attraction of commercial websites. In China, the large-scale provision of news information services by commercial websites began with the concept of "web portal" in 1998. In order to win the portal in the fierce competition, many commercial websites have increased the provision of news information and opened news channels to enhance their competitiveness. But until now, China's commercial websites have only obtained the right to publish news. As long as you look at the news of the above-mentioned commercial websites, almost all of them come from traditional media websites such as Xinhuanet, People's Daily and China News, especially the hard news of political current affairs. The right of news interview is far away. Some researchers pointed out that the embarrassment of publishing news information without the right to interview makes commercial websites inevitably fall into a dilemma, which can neither ignore netizens nor violate relevant policies and regulations. Therefore, almost all commercial websites have adopted the policy of "strengthening editorial power and weakening journalists". On the one hand, it is helpless to accept the prescribed actions, on the other hand, it is a strategy of borrowing chickens to lay eggs and borrowing boats to go to sea. At the same time, it should be noted that in the face of increasingly prominent network hegemony, the state will give commercial websites a certain tilt in policy; Coupled with the technical and financial advantages of commercial websites, commercial websites must not want to live under the fence of others for a long time and are willing to play the role of news integration. At present, commercial websites are only the "second-level gatekeepers" of news information.

Shadow gatekeeper

Shadow gatekeeper In the network virtual space, netizens have released a lot of information through the convenience of network interaction. This is the biggest challenge of the Internet to the "gatekeeper" theory. The individuation and interactivity of network technology make individuals have the right to freely publish news and information in mass media for the first time, which is unimaginable in the traditional era of mass communication. But don't be complacent. Although the number of netizens is huge and rising rapidly, their voice on the Internet is still very weak. According to the latest report of CNNIC in 2002, at present, there are 45.8 million netizens surfing the Internet in China mainly for information, accounting for 47. 6%, accounting for the first purpose of surfing the Internet. It can be seen that about half of netizens still surf the Internet as audiences. CNNIC didn't count how many of the 45.8 million netizens surf the Internet mainly to publish news and information, but it is foreseeable that once people get the right to speak, there is no reason not to use it, so the network service that netizens often use in CNNIC's report is: email 92. 4%, chatting 45. 5%, BBS forums, communities, discussion groups 18. 9%, personal free homepage 8. 6%。 It can also be seen from here that the so-called netizens enjoy complete freedom, and they can only express their views and ideas on the services provided by BBS, chat rooms, discussion groups and emails. I have never seen any netizens personally express their views on the news of Xinhuanet and Sina. Undeniably, it is through these channels that some netizens attack the party and state leaders by innuendo, openly abuse existing policies, spread rumors, maliciously slander and so on. All these make the information released by netizens lack authority and credibility. Therefore, netizens are just "shadow gatekeepers" of some information on the Internet.

Final gatekeeper

The ultimate gatekeeper In the nation-state dominated society, the government will always be the most important and powerful controller and gatekeeper. The "global village" predicted by the famous communication scholar McLuhan appeared with the emergence of the Internet, but he was not a politician and did not specify the management of this "village". The global nature of the Internet makes the administrative "control" of the country inadequate. For domestic websites, it can be controlled by legislation, but for foreign websites, it will only give birth to the feeling that we are beyond our reach. Even in China, a large number of anonymous netizens are hard to prevent. In this regard, some scholars put forward that "technical loopholes can only be controlled technically in the end", and I doubt the possibility of such control. We can prevent newspapers from entering the country, TV from landing, and radio can interfere with its frequency band. But for the network, we can really do it. Whether it can be controlled technically or not, we must weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. From this perspective, the government is the "strongest and weakest gatekeeper" in the network age.

It can be seen that in the Internet age, the gatekeeper and its connotation and extension have undergone tremendous changes, but the "gatekeeper" has not disappeared. Although "gatekeepers" have been severely challenged under certain circumstances, they are still an important source for us to obtain authoritative information and true news.