Blog Post #9

        Gatekeeping and Agenda Setting, differing theories yet they piggyback off one another. Gatekeeping is the human or technological process used to control information flow. Agenda Setting is the ability to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda. Looking at these definitions you can see how Gatekeeping controls what issues the world sees and Agends Setting controls the importance of those issues. 

Gatekeeping is considered a role of surveillance or monitoring of data. This means it’s supposed to show the most valuable issues and topics to the country. These gatekeeping decisions are usually made by someone called the “gatekeeper”. This person is of a higher level of decision-making and decides daily what information is relevant for the public. This information is usually based on professional experience, personal preference, or bias. This is why gatekeeping obtains a lot of criticism. Gatekeepers themselves have their own opinions and are wired to think a certain way. This creates problems for gatekeepers deciding only information they think is relevant should be sent out by media instead of thinking like others and how they may feel about other topics. Gatekeepers also can change the priority of news causing the influence of sexism, racism, etc. For example, many stories get shared about violent attacks against black people, but when I searched “hate crimes against white people”, the only thing that came up was “

hate crime cases examples”, but why? If you watch the news, you see stories about white men getting shot by the opposite race several times a month, but the media doesn’t promote the story as a hate crime so we don’t see it that way which creates more racism in the world. 

Gatekeeping is going to affect society if it continues to block us from knowing issues. Whether it’s a city, state, or country issue, the people are a right to know. People should not have to rely on social media hoping that the small political influencers are telling the truth over mass media because mass media won’t give us the whole truth these days. It’s sad to hear that we are a country of freedom, yet it seems to be that freedom is taken away from us because so much is hidden. 

Agenda Setting Theory is how media can determine which issues are the most important to the public. There are two assumptions about the theory that is; Media filters and shapes what we see rather than just reflecting stories to the audience or, The more attention the media gives to an issue, the more likely the public will consider that issue to be important. If this media was to shape issues this would be “gatekeeping” or hiding us from information and the truth. The public has a right to know the whole truth and all information about the issue. This theory can be seen during election season. Many news channels are biased toward certain candidates and tend to shape the stories so they don’t lose the election. After the 2020 election, there was a lot of controversy about Hunter Biden’s laptop and the information found on it. If this information was broadcasted to the public by media, people say he would have lost votes, and others say he even lost the election. These are the type of stories that are shaped and misconstrued so people don’t understand the reality of them until the media wants them to. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to Agenda Setting theory there is no proof of whether or not it is actually being used or not. Research has been largely inconclusive connecting public prominence and media coverage. Now with the influence of social media, small political influencers, and other voices can spread their opinion and get their voice out there. It is hard for the media to hide the truth about issues in the world when others can also post their experiences and thoughts to the world.