Thursday, April 29, 2010

Week 14 Question 3


The concept that interests me in chapter 11 is gatekeepers, “select the issues they feel are most worthy of coverage and give these issues wide attention. Receivers accept the gatekeepers’ agendas without realizing that, somewhere along the line, an editor or producer is making choices about what to cover and what to ignore” (p. 304). This concept makes me thinking about how the Chinese government always presses any news or information that are coming from Tibet. Just recently, there was a huge earthquake happened in the Tibet area but surprising we didn’t hear or see that many news coverage on this incident. Compare with the earthquake happened two years ago in SiChuan, we saw that was the major headline in every newspaper and television. Because of the political stands between China and Tibet, Chinese government is gate keeping any information that are coming out of Tibet and isolating the community.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you that the concept of gatekeepers is very interesting. It is fascinating how much power and control they have especially in the media. Just like the example you gave, they control what information the public hears and receives. I think we forget that there is a controller who monitors and chooses what information the public will receive. I know that when I listen to the news I believe what they are saying and I forget that they are not as objective as we think. Great job on your post and the example was great because it helped me understand the concept a little better!

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