Gate keeping in the media sees how editors choose particular sorties to enter public media. This theory of gate keeping was created by David White. He sees gate keeping as an 'informal process of censorship'.
Gate Keeping is a selection process of eligible news stories. Editors are the main "gate keepers." They decide what material will be communicated to the public via the media.
Gate Keeping supports the "Traditional Marxism" and the "Manipulative Modal" theories in which ownership and control influence members of the public through the media. Pluralists criticise this as the idea of "conspiracy is unreasonable" in their opinion. Also they see a variety of media sources which would make censorship useless.
News values in the media show how news items are required to pass a selective process to determine what will enter public media. The theory of news values was created by Galtung and Ruge, they see that news stories have to meet a certain criteria in order to produce a successful newspaper or news bulletin.
Galtung and Ruge see balance as important because maintaining the balance between international and national, heavy and light e.t.c, is very significant in constructing the news. Also personalities is a criteria. In politics, the person is more important than the policy, according to the "News Values" theory.
The Glasgow University Media Group do not agree with this theory. They state that "media do not express the complexity of the situation to the general public, they merely present the issue in terms of two warring sides and the effects on the public." They continue to state that, "The vocabulary in broadcasted news is biased against specific groups and this bias structure consumes perspectives."
Pluralists also criticise this theory. They argue that more criteria's are in today's media then there was in 1973 when Galtung and Ruge made their "News Values Table."
Primary Definition in the media is a way in which media professionals influence selection and presentation in the news. Stuart Hall, the main author of this theory, sees pimary definition as "the powerful defining the primary sources for construction of an article." Journalists work alongside the upperclass to present the ideology of primary definition into news stories.
The Glasgow University Media Group's view of Primary Definition is that there is a hierarchy of access to the media, so the views that get presented to the public are those of "experts, specialists and the establishment."
Criticisms from the Pluralists are that, they see that Primary Definition implies that powerful groups and organisations are all acting with the same agenda, which they believe is not true.
In conclusion, the powerful, I believe, do, to an extent, influence the selection, make-up and presentation of the news. The "Hegamonic Model" sees the media portraying a dominant ideology that is generally correct with the way the upper class see society.
Primary definition reflects this theory as it sees the powerful controlling the mass media. Primary Definition suggests that alternate viewpoints may make it into the media but will be confined within the agenda set by the powerful.
Media professionals that effect the media like journalists and editors have a big influence in the portrayal of news stories. Journalists' bias views on issues within the media can influence a viewpoint in a story. This links to the Agenda Setting theory.
Gate Keeping is where the editors influence the content of the news. They have to work to deadlines and limited space in news bulletins and newspapers. The concept of Gate Keeping is that, editors, "open gates for some stories while closing the gates for others."
News Values is also important. Editors must balance the news so that it appeals to a wide variety of audiences. In news selection, the News Values theory is very important as criteria's must be met to make up a newspaper or news bulletin.
Overall, I believe that the editors and journalists influence the selection, make-up and presentation of the news in a variety of media forms such as, television, newspapers and radio.
