Need for Gatekeeping in Citizen Journalism

Within the last decade, we have observed the revolutionary developments in global technology and the shifts of media platforms that are content directly affected by the use of the Internet. In this realm of the Internet, news and media content can be shared with the live audience almost in real-time which was even unimaginable in the last decade. With the availability of digital technologies and media tools, every consumer has become a "Prosumer" because the consumer is no longer only the consumer. They can produce content and publish it in real-time to the audience using the Internet. Even big news and media organizations retrieve content from the public and integrate it into their coverage.   

Gatekeeping is the process of disseminating information through which is filtered and prepared for publication or broadcasting.  This process determines not only the types of information that will be published but also the nature of the content and the messages that need to be sent along. In simple words,  the gatekeeping process creates news from gathered pieces of information. Journalists used to be called the gatekeepers of public spheres but the sphere no longer has walls or gates. Internet and its users can publish a message or content without convincing a gatekeeping journalist of its importance. Social media platforms have become an important source of information for most people where individual users can publish anything they want to the public. Their shared content may entertain thousands of users within moments and can also disrupt the sanity of another bunch from which collision and violence may arise. Gatekeeping information is always necessary so that the flow of information can be shaped, monitored, and controlled.

Along with the Web 2.0 environment,  users have begun to play a greater role in producing and re-distributing online news items via online social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This practice of distributing content is called "Audience Gatekeeping". In this process, users passes along already available news items based on their set of criteria about the news worthiness. Non-professional journalism or citizen journalism became nearly indistinguishable from professional journalism as tools developed and became cheaper, usage of the internet increased globally and consumers engage more with the term "online". Nowadays massive caches of entirely secret information are released into the public sphere by open data campaigns, leakers, and whistleblowers. Freedom of speech on the internet has become a pressing issue because citizen journalists take on most of the responsibilities of publishing news and media contents by themselves without having any proper training on story development or the knowledge of professional ethics.  This makes the flow of news and information severely unregulated which may create disorder and chaos among the common people. 

In Traditional media, Journalists used to play the role of gatekeeping and there were boundaries set by the protocols and regulatory measures. News and other media contents were curated in a way that the reader or consumer can get only the necessary information that they must know and share. The curators of the news find, digest, fact-check, and repackage information before publishing that the consumer can consume. Journalists and big media corporations had the power to choose among the news which should be published and which should not. The news was shaped and the circulation of it was monitored and controlled by news curators. This same job is now done by digital technologies and coded algorithms. Media platforms are created in a way that they can hold an infinite number and volume of contents but will show the consumer contents according to their preference and demand.  

In today's fast-paced and competitive media environment every citizen can be a journalist creating their own media outlets where people are free to enjoy the contents they publish online. The public needs reliable, intelligent, and relevant sources towards which they can go for factual news rather than some clickbait, fake and unethical news or content.  The need for media gatekeeping is increasing higher day by day because the consumption and production rate of media content are ever-growing. We literally live in an age of over-sharing and flooding with information overload. Gatekeeping makes sure that the flow of information is well regulated and maintained with ethical conduct so gatekeeping will always be significant in any diverse media environment. 

Gatekeeping is necessary for upholding the standard of news and media content to keep pace with the time the society lives in. This process filters contents according to their credibility and necessity towards its audience and differentiates the useful information from the unnecessary ones. Audiences have now become too used to the fast-paced and competitive environment of breaking news and sometimes lack the understanding that whatever is published in the media is not always reliable and honest. This traps the audiences in a social media environment that circulates more clickbait articles based on fiction. Audiences with a lack of media literacy cannot differentiate fact from fiction and end up believing that the messages they are receiving are part of the public sphere. Gatekeeping dissects such circumstances by creating the line and bringing out the truth in the news which creates an honest public sphere to uphold and maintain professional standards.      

Easy accessibility to the internet and wide usage of electronic devices have given the audience a place to express their thoughts, opinions, and beliefs through the content they make. Even the person with zero professional ethics can make content based on their own ideology of right and wrong and can publish it for other people to look into. Such reckless acts can create chaos and havoc amongst society if ethical and moral conduct are not maintained properly. People can be easily manipulated and bluffed if the contents can be created in a believable format so audiences mustn't fall into the trap of fake news or unreal content. Gatekeeping makes sure that the message that gets passed along is authentic and is only being published for the consumer to get important knowledge from it. 

In this digital age, gatekeeping is done in several ways. Every social media outlets have their own set of algorithms that can broadcast and eliminate information and news in compliance with the society guidance rules and regulations. Contents that are bizarre and sensitive to visuals will be taken down automatically by the media platform algorithms. These algorithms also can publish and broadcast information to the audience based on their daily preferences and likings. As the feedback process has become real-time, the audience can also give their opinion on everything they see online which helps the mass audience to figure out between right and wrong. 

The public is indulged and influenced by the rate of media consumption and the influence of fake news and clickbait articles, and if they are not critical enough of the websites, articles, facts, and information they are exposed to, they will try to construct the truth of the world from these fabricated news outlets. The public requires trustworthy outlets from which to obtain news and information. Fake news is poured into our media system and public discourse without the need for gatekeepers. 

In today's media environment, gatekeeping is more important than ever, as there is a need for an honest public sphere that delivers academic, cultural, historic, and ethical news that has been filtered by gatekeeping journalists. There is a broad need to protect what is published to the public in the media and to try to counter clickbait pieces and fake news. Professional journalists must exercise control over the creation of news and defend their public standing.

Audiences demand substance, expertise, and truth, thus a gatekeeper's function in today's media environment is crucial for maintaining control and establishing an honest public space. Citizen journalism can be of great help for society in case of exchanging information and entertainment but without the gatekeeping process, it will create havoc and indiscipline in society.