PRESENTATION OUTLINE
GATE KEEPING:
History -
Kurt Lewin was apparently the first one to use the term "gatekeeping," which he used to describe a wife or mother as the person who decides which foods end up on the family's dinner table. (Lewin, 1947)
The gatekeeper is the person who decides what shall pass through each gate section. Although Kurt Lewis applied it originally to the food chain, he then added that the gating process can include a news item winding through communication channels in a group
In the making of a documentary, the gate keeper is the person responsible for what information gets passed on to the audience. This is very important as it molds the opinion of the viewer on whatever issue is being discussed. For example, if I as a gate keeper was bias and chose to ignore certain voxpops and only include negative views on gender equality in college along with a manipulated expert interview with the headteacher, the representation of the college morals would be seen as awful.
Construction of reality.
By editing and gate keeping, media producers can construct an artificial picture of reality. This is often used in documentaries
e.g. Benefits street. The and representation of that area those who are unemployed caused a lot of controversy. Th subjects felt they were misrepresented.
MEDIATION:
"The popular conception of mediation refers to the reconciliation of two opposing parties by a third, and this is similar to its meaning in both Marxist theory and media studies."
Mediation forces the audience to concentrate on one aspect of the text and ignore the rest (because they aren't been told about it). Mediation can lead to false representations of issues or people. Mediation takes place on every single media platform e.g. print, tv, radio, social media. You may take 4 or 5 'selfies' before deciding on the best one to upload - this is also an example of mediation
