Conversational Gatekeeping : Social Interactional Practices of Post-Publication Gatekeeping on Newspapers’ Facebook Pages

Abstract

Digital platforms, such as social media networks, have become intertwined in the news ecosystem, leading news media to lose their role as the sole gatekeeper in the public space. This development has given an active voice to audiences and turned journalism more into conversations between journalists and their audiences. The starting observation for this article was that alongside journalists, platforms and audiences play a part in the gatekeeping process that takes place post-publication, and therefore we need to gain a better understanding of this triadic relationship. Furthermore, as conversations are one of the main functions of social media platforms, more understanding of the role of social interaction in post-publication gatekeeping is needed. After analysing posts (N = 180) and their comments on Finnish newspapers’ Facebook pages utilising content and digital conversation analysis, we extend the traditional gatekeeping theory to post-publication practices of gatekeeping and finally suggest the concept of conversational gatekeeping. The concept explains how through social interaction journalists and social media audiences are able to build mutual understanding and create norms as well as decide on the content and action that is appropriate or wanted in the public news space formed on the particular online platform.