Blog 11: EOTO 'GateKeeping'

 

After listening to my classmates' EOTO presentations, I will be discussing Madeline’s presentation on gatekeeping. I was interested by this presentation, because I feel that my generation has been exposed through this concept due to the use of our mainstream media.Gatekeepers ultimately craft and conduct what is being published to the masses, therefore they determine what is to become the public’s social reality, and their view of the world. Basically the idea of this term is to hide what is being shared to the public and limit the amount of access the people can have on certain information being discussed in the outside world. Throughout this presentation, it was highlighted how gatekeeping was used to protect the news from being leaked to the public, however, over the past few years, I have been more exposed to the term “gatekeeping,” specifically, on social media. 

I never understood what the purpose was to hide information from the people, however, it can be used as a form of privacy and protection. As being an active follower on social media, I have been exposed to the term gatekeeping through celebrities and online influencers. For example, well-known people typically use the act of this term, because they don’t want certain information to be released to the public, especially news outlets creating false narratives. Today, the majority of the information online can be false and fake news, so these celebrities/influencers are being cautious on what is being exposed to the outside world. Also, I follow influencers on social media such as TikTok and Instagram and they share fashion and beauty products on a daily basis. However, they “gatekeep” their favorite products so it is hard for their followers to see what they use and what they should buy. For example, I follow someone for skin care tips, but she won’t share certain products because she doesn’t want them to sell out fast. 

On the other note, major news outlets constantly take part in gatekeeping. When a tragedy is going on throughout the world, they will only release the highlights rather than the scary and unfortunate news that the people should know. For example, at the beginning of COVID-19, our country was not as informed about how severe the coronavirus was. I remember being in high school, sitting in class, and my teacher saying it won’t affect us and we will still have in person classes. I feel that the news outlets didn’t want to share false information, but also didn’t want to scare the people due to how intense the virus was affecting people around the world. Gatekeeping is a common act used through mainstream media and has many pros and cons to the word.