Post-Publication Gatekeeping Factors and Practices: Data, Platforms, and Regulations in News Work

Margareta Salonen, Veera Ehrlén, Minna Koivula and Karoliina Talvitie-Lamberg
Additional contact information
Margareta Salonen: Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Veera Ehrlén: Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Minna Koivula: Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Karoliina Talvitie-Lamberg: Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Media and Communication, 2023, vol. 11, issue 2, 367-378

Abstract: The gatekeeping literature has turned to look at the factors and practices that shape gatekeeping in the post-publication environment, i.e., after news has entered circulation. This article adds to the discussion and argues that news workers share gatekeeping power in the post-publication environment with audiences, platforms, and regulations. Further, this study extends the post-publication gatekeeping framework and considers it in the context of datafication. The article aims to broadly understand how (audience) data is part of editorial decision-making in news media from news workers’ perceptions. The current study was conducted by interviewing news workers from three Finnish news organisations. The interview data was analysed utilising qualitative iterative content analysis. Our analysis revealed that the use of (audience) data in news organisations increasingly shapes news workers’ journalistic decision-making processes. We found that news workers were ambivalent toward data (use) and that their reliance on platform data depended on the particular platform. Furthermore, when interviewed about journalism ethics, news workers only connected it with legislative issues, such as General Data Protection Regulation. Lastly, we could see that regulatory factors of data, i.e., legislation and media self-regulation, have power over news production and distribution. This study reflects how journalism (research) is shifting from an audience-centric view to a data-driven one, i.e., it is experiencing a data turn .

Keywords: audiences; datafication; gatekeeping; news workers; platforms; regulations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/6486 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v11:y:2023:i:2:p:367-378

DOI: 10.17645/mac.v11i2.6486

Access Statistics for this article

Media and Communication is currently edited by Raquel Silva

More articles in Media and Communication from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().