CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Before information can be disseminated to the public, it undergoes strict examination by
certain people. These people are known as gatekeepers. They limit, expand and recognize
or interpret the information the audience receives.
There are lots of scholarly definition of what gatekeeping and who gatekeepers are. The
term “gatekeeper” was first used by the Austrian Psychologist, Kurt Lewin. He defines
gate-keeper as the individual or groups of persons whose role is to monitor the traveling
of news in the communication channel.
Expanding Lewin’s definition, Bittner (1989) defines gate-keeper as any person or
formally organized group directly involved in relaying and transferring information from
one individual to another through a Mass-medium.
Akindele and Lamidi (2001) say “gatekeeper is anybody who has the propensity to start
Mass communication industry”, Lewin’s definition of gate-keeper is centered on the
people who govern the movement of news within the communication channel. Bittner
(1989) in his definition asserts that gate-keeper is any person or formally organized group
who has the job of transferring message from one person to another. Analyzing this
definition further, we will see that gate-keeper is not graphic communication, censorship
etc.
In his word, Bittner asserts that a gate-keeper can be a film producer who cuts scene form
a prime time show because it is perceived as being too sexually explicit, a director who
determine what segment of film to use in a documentary, a newspaper executives who
determines the topic for editorial, or any other individual in the processing or control of
messages disseminated through “Mass-media”.
Lamidi and Akindele’s definition emphasized the influence which gatekeepers can have
on the final product in the Mass communication industry. Akindele and Lamidi (2001)

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explained that gatekeepers determine what the public read and what they listen or watch
as broadcast news. Gatekeeper, thus mean any person or organized group of person who
control the flow of information in the mass media channel, this; include reporters, proof-
readers, editors, newscaster and host of others.
Gatekeeping as a communication concept came to the bibliography of mass
communication through lots of communication scholars like Park Robert in 1922 in his
book 'The Immigrant Press', Park explains the process, "out of all of the events that
happen and are recorded every day by correspondents, reporters, and the news agencies,
the editor chooses certain items for publication which he regards as more important or
more interesting than others. The remainder he condemns to oblivion and the
wastebasket. There is an enormous amount of news 'killed' every day.
Similarly, Austrian Psychologist, Kurt Lewin in 1943 and 1947, he popularized the
concept of gatekeeping and brought it into mass media. David White equally contributed
to the concept of gatekeeping when in 1950 conducted study on how news flow, he did
an empirical research on how news flow from gathering stage to publishing stage.
Another notable scholars that spiced the concept of gatekeeping were Westley, Bruce &
MacLean, Malcolm who in 1957 found out how information flow and introduced the
ABC model to explain gatekeeping which is very popular today. According to the duo,
multiple events is identify as (X), some are discovered by the sender, identify as (A), then
travels to the mass media (C -gatekeeper), then to the receiver (B).
Boeed in 1974 emphasized on organizational policy as the most important elements that
determines what gets to the public. Dominick in 1994 introduced news values into the
concept of gatekeeping.
Pamela Shoemaker, Martin Eichholz, Eunyi Kim, and Brenda Wrigley in 1994 studied
the level of gatekeeping adding that elites are most important in gatekeeping process,
they added that story is influenced by it importance, Novetty, interest, news values,
oddity. Also, Singer in 2000 and 2004 conducted another research on the extent at which

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gatekeeping is effective in new media environment and he found out that the power of
gatekeepers seems to diminish in a modern information society.
It should be noted that news credibility is often determine by how well is gatekept, that is
why older people still believe in the traditional mass media like TVC, AIT, Channels,
NTA, Arise, the Punch, Punch Newspaper, Guardian newspaper etc because they
command many array of gatekeepers who expands, limit and further explain their news
programmes when the need arises. It is against this background that the study
investigated the influence of gatekeeping in newspaper production in Nigeria with a
focus on the Punch newspaper.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The major problems facing the Nigerian press arise from ignorance and negligence on the
part of the gatekeepers. It is even universally believed that anybody who possesses the
talent irrespective of his education can practice journalism, we can see people from
different fields such as English Language, History, Economic, Accountancy e.t.c. to
name just a few.
Although, eloquent at speech and skillful at grammar without journalism, he or she may
not practice according to the ethics of the profession. Many Nigerian press especially
citizen journalists are half baked because they undergo meager education.
Another worthy problem facing the Nigerian press men is their negligence to their duties.
Most of the news aired or published nowadays is not well edited, some news which can
bring hatred and tribal crisis in the country are still being published. It is against this
background that the study investigated the influence of gatekeeping in newspaper
production in Nigeria with a focus on the Punch newspaper.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

i. To determine the extent at which gatekeepers impacted on news credibility of
Punch Newspaper.

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ii. To ascertain how has gatekeepers impacted on news credibility of Punch
Newspaper.
iii. To examine the extent at which freedom of information affect news credibility of
Punch Newspaper.
iv. To find out the challenges facing Punch Newspaper gatekeepers in performing
effectively and efficiently.
v. To ascertain the extent at which ownership interest influences the gatekeepers
news judgment in Punch Newspaper.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i. To what extent has gatekeepers impacted on news credibility of Punch
Newspaper?
ii. How has gatekeepers impacted on news credibility of Punch Newspaper?
iii. To what extent has freedom of information affect news credibility of Punch
Newspaper?
iv. What are the challenges facing Punch Newspaper gatekeepers in performing
effectively and efficiently?
v. To what extent does ownership interest influence the gatekeepers news judgment
of Punch Newspaper?

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study which investigated the influence of gatekeeping in newspaper production in
Nigeria was narrowed in scope to Punch Newspaper in Lagos state because it will be
difficult if not impossible to visit the entire media houses in Lagos State. Inadequate
fund, time and other logistics are some of the other rationale for limiting the scope of this
study to Punch Newspaper.

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1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will go a long way in helping researcher, student of journalism, students,
lecturers and people studying mass communication and the large public to follow the way
or make use of this research topic to know the way they will follow to their respective
research.
This study has shown what it takes to become a gate keeper, informing the public and
editors that the gate keepers are the fourth estate of the realm if they perform their duties,
roles and right from coping, to the dissemination of the information to the public and
editors.

1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Influence: This means to the impact of gatekeepers in ensuring in news credibility.
Gatekeepers: These are people that protect wrong information from getting to the public.
News credibility: In this study, it means audience’s confidence in news messages.
Newspaper: This refers to print media news content and features.

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 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Thus, this chapter focuses on the review of literature that is relevant to this topic
“Influence of Gatekeeping in Newspaper Production in Nigeria: A Study of the Punch
Newspaper” The conceptual, theoretical frameworks and empirical studies used in this
study were derived from textbooks, magazines, newspapers, and journals.

2.2 CONCEPT OF MASS MEDIA

Mass media is an umbrella terms used for all means of communication to a wider and
larger audience residing in different geographical locations. Akinfeleye (2004) defines
mass media as a means or channels through which messages or information are
transferred or disseminate to a wider and larger heterogeneous audience who are residing
in a diverse location.
Mass media organization is describe as that produce news or entertainment content and
distribute that content to a large number of geographically separated people through a
technologically based medium (David, 2005).
The term mass media simply translates to the modern means of giving news, opinion,
education and entertainment to large numbers of people, especially through radio,
television, newspapers, magazines and films. (Isamuko, 2011) writes that news is
distributed in Nigeria through print and electronic media. These include radio, television,
newspaper and magazine.
Andrew (2009) cited in (McQuail, 2000) describes mass media as a means of
communication that operates on a large scale, reaching and involving virtually everyone
in a society to a greater or lesser degree. McQuail further describes the mass media as the
organized means for communicating openly and at a distance to many receivers within a
short space of time. The mass media are impersonal communication sources that reach
large audiences.

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Akinfeleye (2004) defines mass media as a means or channels through which messages
or information are transferred or disseminate to a wider and larger heterogeneous
audience who are residing in a diverse location.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF MASS MEDIA
There are basically two broad categories of mass media according to Andrew and
Oloruntola (2009:18) but emergence of internet has given room for other platforms which
include social media, blogs, live streaming and so on.
 Broadcast Media: Radio and Television
 Print Media: Newspaper, Magazine and Book
 New Media (Online Journalism, digital media, etc.)
However, for the purpose of this write up, efforts will be dwelled on the print media
which are newspaper and magazine (Alao. and Olayinka, 2018).
CONCEPT OF PRINT MEDIA
Basically, print media can be better categorized into two (2) for the purpose of this
research i.e newspaper and magazine. It should be noted that print media means. Mohit
(2017) writes that print media can be defined as means of mass communication in the
form of printed publications. Print media usually comprises of magazines, newspapers,
books, circulars, journals, pamphlets, and periodicals.
CONCEPT OF NEWSPAPER
Lots of scholars have writing so much in the aspect of print media in Nigeria and in the
globe generally. A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current
events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually printed on
relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. Akinrosoye (2011) says
newspaper is “an unbounded, printed publication issued at regular interval which presents
information in words, often supplemented with photographers.
Newspaper is seen as a periodical publication containing news regarding current events,
informative articles, diverse features, editorials, and advertising. It usually printed on

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relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. in the year 2007, there were
6,580 daily newspapers in the world with sales of 395 million copies daily. Newspaper
often has the following contents, including / editorial opinions, op-eds; obituaries;
entertainment features such as crosswords, sudoku and horoscopes weather news and
forecasts; advice, food and other columns; editorial cartoons, gag cartoons and comic
strips and advert.
Asan & Joseph (2012) write that community Media is community owned, peoples’
oriented and less profit driven. It has the capacity to facilitate and smoothen effective
communication in places where the presence of Mass Media is not well felt thus fostering
development in other media marginalized communities.
Also, Wikipedia describes community journalism or community newspaper as a type of
journalism that is a locally-oriented, professional news coverage that typically focuses on
city neighborhoods, individual suburbs or small towns, rather than metropolitan, state,
national or world news. There are newspapers whose reach made them to be categories as
community newspapers e.g Oko newspaper, Osun Defender newspaper, city newspaper
ETC
Some newspapers are categorized as state newspapers based on their reach. According to
Teslim (2019), the following are offer as state newspapers Blueprint Newspaper,
Business Hallmark, Daily Champion, Daylight Nigeria Entertainment Express, National
Network, New Telegraph, Next, Observer, P.M. News, Lagos, People’s Daily, The Tide,
Triumph, The Daily Post etc. Equally, some newspapers are named national newspapers
such as Guardian, Independent, Leadership, Daily Times of Nigeria, Daily Trust, Punch,
This day, The Nation, The Punch Newspaper, Sun and Vanguard etc. While some
newspapers are classified as national newspapers.
Newspaper is said to be international newspaper when it is distributed not only in
production countries but also beyond. In other word, a newspaper to be an international
newspaper if the newspaper is printed and distributed in countries other than or in
addition to the country where it was publish eg The Christian Science Monitor, Epoch

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Times, The Cambodian Journal, International New York Times, The Irish Echo, The
Wall Street Journal etc.
HISTORY OF NEWSPAPER IN NIGERIA
What is today’s known as mass media in Nigeria came chronologically i.e from one stage
to the other, from one technological advancement to the other, from one regime or
government or the other. There is no doubt about the fact that print media pioneers and
ushers the emergence of mass media in Nigeria.
However, despite the disagreements among earlier scholars, researchers and media
experts on how and when the press began in Nigeria, yet most of the scholars and experts
agreed that Nigerian’s first newspaper was Iwe-Iroyin fun Awon Egba (the Newspaper
for the Egba People) floated by Reverend Henry Townsend in Abeokuta in 1859. Lawal
(2014,1). The newspaper was published in Yoruba language with its English supplement
came in March 1860, although it was mainly a Christian evangelical paper.
Aliagan (2011), noted that from the humble beginning of the print journalism in 1859,
different newspapers and magazines. A fortnightly, Iwe Irohin sold for about one penny
(120 cowries) a copy and two shillings for annual subscription. According to Omu
(2000:53- 4) cited in Levi (2013) the image many people have of this pioneering effort is
that of a religious tract preoccupied with religious teaching and preaching and keeping a
safe distance from the distractions and confusions of politics; but “the truth of the matter
is that the Iwo Irohin exerted its greatest influence as a political weapon.
On the demise of Iwe Irohin, Robert Campbell, a Jamaican educationist, set up the
Anglo-Africa in 1863; but two years after its establishment, the Anglo-African collapsed.
By 1880, Omu (2000:57) cited in Levi (2013) notes that, many people in Lagos began to
feel the need for a newspaper to fill the gap created by the collapse in 1867 of Iroyin and
the Africans showed frustration in the absence of a voice they required to sooth the
temperament of the times; it therefore, was ‘not a surprise that a wealthy businessmen,
Richard Blaize, brought out the first truly Nigerian newspaper in November 1880. He
called it the Lagos Times and Gold Coast Colony Advertiser’.

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This new era was epitomized in Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and his West African Pilot. The
Pilot launched in November 1937 announced its 7 mission as the “Sentinel of popular
liberty and guardian of civilization” with the “supreme task” of making assertions in
unequivocal terms. Lawal (2014). The Pilot indeed heralded the revival and revolution in
Nigerian journalism. Zik brought with him essential components of the new journalism,
and his paper immediately became the major forum for the increasing nationalist
consciousness which was in desperate need of an outlet for expressing the mode of the
times. The Pilot sold about 9000 copies daily and ended the circulation supremacy of the
Daily Times, which then had a circulation figure of about 6000.
Dare (2000) cited in Levi (2013) regards Blackall’s Observer as the most successful of
the 19th century newspapers. Worthy of note though is the emergence of the Daily Time
in 1926. the Daily Times was a different kind of newspaper in the sense that it was
founded (by a Nigerian and four Britons) as a commercial paper, with most of the
trappings of a typical ‘London Daily’ and as such was not considered that much part of
‘the struggle’; but serve as a training ground for what could be described as some of the
best hands in Nigerian journalism. The paper, which had a circulation figure of 3000 in
1930, and rose to 5,900 by 1937 is believed by many to have been Nigeria’s first daily
newspaper.
It was the Lagos Daily News, founded by a bookseller, Babamuboni, who hurriedly came
out with the publication obviously to checkmate the plan of the Daily Times coming out
as the first daily newspaper. Herbert Macaulay, credited with wielding a rather deadly
pen, took over the Lagos Daily News in 1927. Lawal (2014).
Macaulay, developed the Lagos Daily News into a “ferociously antigovernment”
newspaper and a political springboard as well as organ of his political party (The
National Democratic Party); but it died like many before it. In 1939, the colonial
authorities, under the auspices of the Northern Literature Bureau, set up the first
newspaper north of the Niger.

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Lawal (2014) also notes that Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo was a paper Hausa language. The
Northern Literature Bureau in 1954 became the Gaskiya Corporation and added to 9 the
Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo an English Language fortnight. The Nigeria Citizen in 1948. In
1949 the late Obafemi Awolowo established the Punch Newspaper as a voice and vehicle
for his political party The Action Group (AG). Within this period and 1959 when there
was the crucial election that was to lead Nigeria in to partnership all in preparation for
‘INDEPENDENCE.
Newswatch on the other hand, broke new grounds in investigative journalism,
encouraged debate, lucid and simple like the style synonymous with American quality
magazines. For its style of investigative journalism, the magazine’s founding Editor in
Chief, the ebullient Dele Giwa lost his life in 1986, courtesy of a letter bomb; the first of
its kind in the country. Today, the Nigerian press industry is bustling with other quality
newspapers and magazines like the Concord (now defunct). Lawal (2004).
Today, over 250 newspapers (national, regional and local) and magazine titles circulate
in Nigeria. Aliede (2010:129) cited in Levi (2013). Some of the leading newspapers
include but not limited to The Guardian, The Punch, Vanguard, Champion, The Sun, The
Nation, This Day, New Nigerian and Tribune. Also, magazine titles like Newswatch,
Tell, Insider, The Week, The News and Ovation are contributing essentially to national
development through their news reports, analysis and interpretation.
TYPES/CLASSIFICATION OF NEWSPAPER
There are various types of newspapers or classified according to different criteria; Hynds
(1975) cited in Akinrosoye (2011) provides criteria under which newspaper can be
classified as frequency of publication, time of publication, format, geographical location,
purpose, circulation, method of production, intended audience, achievement. However,
for the purpose of this research attention is paid to classification by geography and
purpose.
The focal parts of newspapers are the pages that get the attention of the readers most.
They are usually three according to Akinrosoye (2011)

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 i. The front page
ii. The middle page (also called Centre Spread)
iii. The back page.
Below are some of the newspaper contents/pages/columns according to Adeniran (2015)
depends on the house style of newspaper such as news, sport, entertainment, fashion and
style, gallery, editorial, advertisement, comment/opinion, health and so on.
FUNCTIONS OF NEWSPAPER
The function of mass media and newspaper in particular newspaper does function like
every other mass media of communication. Newspaper (print media) performs so many
roles in society but only few will be discussed for the purpose of this study. According to
Angela (2013) writes that newspaper informs, educate, entertain and enlighten the public.
 Inform: One of the primary functions of (print media) newspaper is to inform its
readers. This is usually in the form of the daily happenings from the local area, on
a nationwide basis and internationally. A newspaper often employs journalists to
gather information about events, or they pay other publications to print their
stories. These stories help inform readers as to what is going on in their
communities.
 Enlighten: Newspapers also offer guidance and opinion to help shape people’s
view on certain subjects or matters. As an extension to merely reporting the facts
of a matter, newspapers often have editorial or opinion pieces which attempt to
interpret events and offer new angles and implications about their occurrence.
Here may also be reviews and opinions on sports matters and commentary on
personalities, theater or cinema offerings and comments and opinions on life in
general.
 Educate: Newspapers also have a practical function, which is to assist readers
with their daily lives. They publish a wealth of useful information of a practical
nature that helps people go about their daily business. Items such as weather
forecasts, shipping news, classified advertising, sporting schedules, television

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 schedules and theater and cinema listings are examples of this. They also publish
news of importance to a community, such as wedding notices, birth and deaths.
Newspapers also offer a historical and archival record of past events and local
happenings.
 Entertain: Newspapers also seek to offer a diversion and simply entertain. To
this end, many newspapers will publish crosswords, fashion, celebrity, games and
puzzles. Many feature cartoon strips and humorous writings. Gossip columns, the
happenings of celebrities and society pages also seek merely to entertain the
reader. And many newspapers offer leisure pages and advice on what to do for
weekends, or where to go on vacations.

2.2.1 CONCEPT OF GATEKEEPING

In Journalism, a gatekeeper refers to someone who filters information for dissemination
through broadcast, publication or even for the internet. He/she functions in all levels of
media structure and can work in various fields such as sociology or even political science
Gatekeeping describes the process by which news stories are filtered by journalists and
editors for dispersal in any medium. The process comes into play every time a blogger
chooses to feature a story in a website’s top position, a news producer decides to cover
one issue but not another, or a magazine reporter selects a source to interview for an
article. The gatekeeping function of journalism has shifted under the changes of the
digital information age.
The term “gatekeeper” was first used by the Austrian Psychologist, Kurt Lewin. He
defines gate-keeper as the individual or groups of persons whose role is to monitor the
traveling of news in the communication channel.
Expanding Lewin’s definition, Richard (2017) cited in Bittner (1989) defines gate-keeper
as any person or formally organized group directly involved in relaying and transferring
information from one individual to another through a Mass-medium.

13
Akindele and Lamidi (2001) say a gate-keeper is anybody who has the propensity to
start Mass communication industry”. Lewin’s definition of gate-keeper is centered
on the people who govern the movement of news within the communication channel.
Bittner further asserts that gatekeeper is any person or formally organized group who
has the job of transferring message from one person to another. Analyzing Bittners
assertion further a gatekeeper is not graphic communication, censorship etc. In his
word, Bittner asserts that a gatekeeper can be a film producer who cuts scene form a
prime time show because it is perceived as being too sexually explicit, a director
who determine what segment of film to use in a documentary, a newspaper
executives who determines the topic for editorial, or any other individual in the
processing or control of messages disseminated through “Mass-media”.
Lamidi and Akindele emphasize the influence which gatekeeper can have on the final
product in the Mass communication industry. Akindele and Lamidi (2001) cited in Black
and Whitney (1983) say gatekeepers determine what the public read the event they
bypass are events that never happened as far as the public is concerned, society exposure
to the days reality and fantasy is in the gate-keepers hands. Gatekeeper, in my own word
is any person or organized group of person who control the flow of information in the
mass communication channel.
Wikipedia (n.d) explain the concept of gatekeeping as the process through which
information is filtered for dissemination, whether for publication, broadcasting, the
internet, or some other mode of communication. Gatekeeping occurs at all levels of the
media structure from a reporter deciding which sources are presented in a headline story
to editors choosing which stories are printed or covered. Including, but not limited to,
media outlet owners and advertisers
Richard (2017) describes gatekeeping as those who filters through information and
determines what information is shared with media audiences? Who filters through
information and determines what information will not be shared with media audiences?
Ultimately, who controls the flow of information in the media?

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Communication theory writes that the Gatekeeper decides what information should move
to group or individual and what information should not. Here, the gatekeeper are the
decision makers who letting the whole social system. The gatekeeper is having its own
influence like social, cultural, ethical and political. In news medium editor play vital role.
He has to decide what kind of news items will publish and what should not. Every day
the news channel receives various news items from all over the world. The channel have
its own ethics and policies through this the editor decide the news items for publish or
aired. In some cases few news items are rejected by the editor due the organizations
policy or the news items which are not suitable for publish.
Pamela, Jaime and Philip (2017) say billions of events occur in the world each day, but
only a few of them become news. The process through which this occurs is referred to as
gatekeeping. Gatekeeping theory is the nexus between two inarguable facts: events occur
everywhere all of the time and the news media cannot cover all of them. And so, when an
event occurs, someone has to decide whether and how to pass the information to another
person, such as a friend, an official, or even a journalist.
Many decisions are made between the occurrence of an event and its transmission as
news: decision points are referred to as gates and decision makers as gatekeepers. The
decision-making process is the core of gatekeeping. It is possible for anyone to be a
gatekeeper anyone who has information about the event and decides to pass it to another
person or organization. In processing information and conveying it to someone else,
gatekeepers consciously or unconsciously change the information (Pamela, Jaime and
Philip, 2017).
Media gatekeepers (i.e., journalists, editors) possess the power to control the gate by
determining the content delivered to audiences, opening and closing the gate of
information. Gatekeepers wield power over those on the other side of the gate, those
seeking to be informed (audiences), as well as those seeking to inform (politics, activists,
academics, etc.) (Richard, 2017).

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THE GATEKEEPER CHAIN
Gatekeeping has stages it involves according to Bittner (1985), gatekeeper chain where
there are two or more gatekeepers processing the same news event with a “Limited
amount of feedback from other gatekeepers in the chain. He adds that gatekeepers chain
has to do with the number of persons that put their efforts together to ensure that the
information received by the public is readable. The number of the gatekeeper in the chain
determines the modification received by the original message. The gatekeepers are
reporters, newscaster, news editors etc.
When talking about the gatekeepers of information or those in charge of filtering
information is a collective effort. Therefore, gate-keepers groups are those who operate
within the gate-keeper chain. They work hand in hand and the interaction among them
brings about accuracy because the news worthy story event is lift out of the large
information they process (Richard, 2017) cited in Bittner, 1985).
Bittner emphasizes that, “The message is clarified, changed, rewritten, and evaluated by
each member of the group”. He asserts that “the gate-keepers chain and gate-keepers
group are in a sense a “road map” of the flow of news.
WHO ARE THE GATEKEEPERS IN MASS MEDIA
The first gatekeeper in the communication channel is the reporter who covers the news
story. Other are, the Editor-in-Chief, the sub-editor/copy editor, the news editor, the
Editorial page editor, the picture editor, the features editor, the women’s page editor, the
cartoonist, the layout editor and the proof readers whose functions are to check and
recheck the contents of the news before final dissemination.
Bittner asserts that the presence or absence of either (gate-keeper chain and gate-keeper
group) does not means news distortion will occur. It simply means it can occur.
NEED FOR GATEKEEPING IN MASS MEDIA
Since the first appearance of newspaper in Nigeria perhaps in the world, the need to
check what comes in and go out had arose. Gatekeeping is very important in our society
because if proper gate-keeping is not done on a copy, and it is disseminated it might

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turnout to be likely any information carried by any press may bring the press to court for
contempt of court i.e. passing judgment before the final decision of the Judge.
The need for the gatekeepers in our society takes a special importance where accurate,
objective and relevant data are badly needed from all available sources, including local,
national and regional development planning and where such valuable data are notoriously
difficult to come by.
A report sent in by a reporter must be checked by the gatekeepers in order to avoid the
wrath of those in authority. The act of omission and commission by the gatekeepers
provide so much immediate negative reaction from the government as do inaccurate and
irresponsible reporting.
Thus, whenever the gatekeepers are scrutinizing the news of the reporters they have to
take steps to avoid, at least minimize the act of inaccuracy and irresponsibility, a great
deal of the sources of conflict between the press and those in authority are thereby
eliminated.
The gate-keeper contributes substantially to the growth of its own popularity and
legitimacy through its steadfast adherence to objectivity and responsibility in its day-to-
day performance. When the press as a gate-keeper in our society makes genuine and
sincere efforts to cultivate, on a regular basis the desirable qualities of objectivity\and
responsibility, government officials. And other members of its audience never fail to
increasingly on the medium for information and to take its editorial opinion seriously.
QUALITIES OF GATE-KEEPERS
For gatekeepers to succeed in their activities they must possess most or not all these
qualities or skills, because it is a serious task indeed. The gate-keepers must possess some
qualities which differentiate them from other people that work in a media house.
In Akindele and Orhewer (2002), Editing and Production in Print Journalism the
following are part of the qualities of a good gate-keeper.
1. He must be endowed with quick though coupled with accuracy, he thinks fast, he
is receptive to “Flashes” of inspiration.

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2. He must possess the human interest qualities of patience, sympathy, insight,
understanding, broad perception, imagination creativity, sense of humor.
3. He must have a capacity to acquire knowledge, Learn to adapt to new technique.
4. He must have a well-balanced mind.
5. He must be gifted in recognizing clear perception about issues, principles,
policies involved and considering matters with another men’s (reader’s) point of
view.
6. He must have adequate physical fitness, because a gatekeeper lead a hard life
which take its toll on the nerves, sight, skill and digestion.
7. He must be able to develop a team spirit. On the sub-desk the principle of
cooperation must be applied, he must have the co-operation of his colleagues on the
desk and cultivate the co-operation of or with other department. Proof reading
room, photo unit and the production department.
8. He must be cool-headed. This is the ability to work under chaotic condition
without becoming disturbed, flurried, distracted.
9. He must have a good command of the language (written and spoken)
10. He must have a good sense of judgment based on well-informed common sense
significantly with respect to sense of news values
11. He must have both creative and academic talent with all the aforementioned
qualities
12. He/she must possess other qualities of good reporter or journalist.
FUNCTIONS OF THE GATE-KEEPERS IN MASS MEDIA
Gatekeepers perform so many functions in society and some of the functions are stated
below. According to Bittner (1989) one of the functions is to limit the information we
received by editing this information before it is disseminated to us; to expand the amount
of information we receive by giving us additional facts or views and to reorganize or
interpret the information.

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The functions of gate-keepers are not restricted to limitation, expansion and
reinterpretation of the information. They perform long list of information which are very
important in the communication industry.
There are three basic functions of gatekeepers
i. They reduce news contents: They perform this by removing mistakes from a copy,
spellings, abbreviations and unwanted parts e.t.c
ii. They add to news contents: They add to the news contents where news need to be pad-
copy and elaborated for extensive details, to avoid scanty contents.
iii. They interpret news contents: They make proper interpretations where necessary
especially from the issues or concept that is not common including from financial
contents.
FACTORS INFLUENCING GATEKEEPING DECISIONS
Lots of factors or conditions influence the decision of gate-keeper raging from time,
ownership factor, editorial policy, audience, editors interest e.t.c
(i) Timing: This is very crucial in the gate keeping process. News is determined more by
when it is received in the publishing circle than by any other single factor. Information
received early in the day when a large proportion of newspaper space or newscast time
remains to be filled has a better chance of passing through the gate than a news item
arriving later in the day. When two or more items arrive sufficiently early within the
publishing cycle, editorial decision is influenced by several factors, including the
following.
(ii) Ownership Pattern: Publicly owned and government controlled media tend to be
more authoritarian and more prone to self censorship than privately owned media they
carry more news favourable to the government of the day and avoid news unfavorable to
it. They avoid direct criticism of government action, and suppress news criticism of
government action, and suppress news that would amount to revealing government
secrets, and so on.

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Party organs fall in the same category since they tend to report news from the perspective
of their patron parties .This is not suggest that privately owned media are free to report
what they like and the way they like to. There is the common saying that the ghost of the
proprietor is ever hanging over the editorial conference whether that proprietor happens
to be a government, a corporation or an individual. However, non-governmental media
tend to be freer, to do investigative reporting for example, concerning government which
is the biggest source of news in any society.
(iii) Management Policy: This is usually contain in the mission statement and reflected
in the practice codes of each media establishments it flows from the publisher through the
management and editorial boards to the editors, writers and reporters.
Indeed, every worker who aspires to grow with the establishment would normally be
expected to get familiar with management policy. Given the pyramidal-cumhierarchical
structure of media organization management policy tends to engender the kind of
bureaucracy which democratic participant theory frowns upon. Long- serving members
of the top hierarchy can sometimes deviate within acceptable limit but.
 They must earn that privilege by conforming for long period; and
 The acceptable limits are unique to each organization.
 Size of the media:- Large newspaper for example tend to be less dependent on
news item supplied by the news agencies and to rely more on their own news
gathering resources than smaller newspapers. The same thing applies to large
broadcasting network especially in more developed countries such as the United
States of America.
(iv) Perceived Needs and Preferences of the Audience: Editors believe at least that
they are providing their audiences what they like to read view and listen to. They claim
to. do this mainly through readership survey and other form of audience research.
However, the extent to which these are carried out varies with the different organization.
Especially in development countries with serious economic problem the criticism is rife
that news organization including news agencies ,are becoming more and more dependent

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on government and company briefs in the name of “development journalism”. Well to do
individual and families are also literally: “stealing” valuable broadcast time in the name
of “news of social importance”, that is to say, coverage of burial wedding and house
warming ceremonies. In this kind of milieu, editors, producer and so on must hard put to
it to confidently claim that they are giving their audiences the kind of media fare they like
to consume.
Besides regular audience surveys, avenues through which audience needs and
preferences can be ascertained include feedback channels such as letters to the
editor/opinion columns, phone in electronic programmes, audience open days, etc.
(v) Editor’s Perception of Reality:
Perceived audience needs and preferences notwithstanding, editors sometimes have, or
are expected to have a better grasp of a given social situation and to decide how best to
report on it: say, a war situation.
(vi) Views Held by Editor’s Colleague:
It is to elicit such view that editorial conferences are held. The Editor-in chiefs own
perception of reality is not infrequently swayed by the views expressed by his colleagues
at such daily conferences. This procedure ensures a kind of internal consensus over what
is put out as news. Editorial board which usually includes outsiders brought in on account
of their expertise. Here the editor-in-chief may also exercise a dominating but certainly
not absolute influence.
(vii) Influence of Advertisers:
Since the commercial press in particular is so dependent on advertising revenues, the
tendency of the press to demur to the feelings of the advertisers, especially big
advertisers, is understandable. Advertisers are known to exercise considerable influence
over the news purveyed by the media they patronize, especially over news that have to do
with such advertisers business.

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(viii) Appraisal of Offering by the Competition:
Each media establishment jealously watches what its competitors are providing as news,
especially in times of crises or any newly breaking events. Indeed, it is claimed (but not
indisputably proved) that some establishments maintain within rival organizations paid
contacts who finish them with prior information on their rival news propositions.
(ix) Availability of Photographs or Film Footage:
Visuals (Photographs and films) are very important to journalists because of their ability
to enhance the effects of given news items. Television gate-keepers in particular often
seem to base their news judgment more on the visual aspects (availability of good film
footage) than on the significance of the news content.
(x) Legal Consideration:
The law of defamation (libel and slander) as well as of seditious libel hangs over the
journalist like the sword of Damocles. All Journalists are expected to be aware of them
and to strive to avoid running foul of them. Newspapers have legal departments and
broadcasting houses have internal censors who screen news items in particular to ensure
that they are free of libelous content. Beside defamation and sedition, there are other
offences that journalist try to avoid, such as contempt of court, which may arise from a
few sources, including commenting unconscionably on a matter that is subjudice; that is
undergoing trial in a law court.
(xi) Professional Ethics:-
Objectivity, balances, fairness, social responsibility e.t.c. are ethical terms that bandied
about among journalist and media scholars. But, as we tried to show above in 1.2 (ii),
they are not easy to practicalize because of their interminacy (they are not governed by
any precise rules or guidelines). Still, all journalists are expected to be sensitive to them
in gathering processing and reporting news.

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2.3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
GATEKEEPING THEORY
Gatekeeping Theory was first instituted by Park Robert in 1922 but was brought to the
bibliography of mass communication by Kurt Lewin in 1943. Gatekeeping is the process
through which information is filtered for distribution, whether for publication,
broadcasting, the Internet, or some other mode of communication. The academic theory
of gatekeeping is found in several fields of study, including communication studies,
journalism, political science, and sociology.
The main concept of this theory is Gatekeeper decides what information should move to
group or individual and what information should not. Here, the gatekeeper are the
decision makers who hiring the whole social system. Through this process, sensitive,
hate, fake and controversial information’s are removed by the gate keeper (s) which helps
to control the society or a group and letting them in a right path.
Before information can be disseminated to the public, it undergoes strict examination by
certain people, these people are known as gate keepers. They limit, expand and re-
organize or interpret the information the audience receives. This information can be in
form of news, film, graphics art and photographs e.t.c. Gate-keeper are the individuals or
groups of persons whose role is to monitor the traveling of news in the communication
channel.
The stronger and effectiveness of gatekeepers the less tendency to see hate speech or fake
news because the gate is under the watch of the professionals who opens and close gate
for any story and no story passes without them. However, the absent or inadequate of this
on social media and other cyberspace causing the influx of hate speeches and fake news
in circulation. Ownership sentiment is another factor that affects proper gatekeeping in
Nigeria as hate speech are spread for different motives. Also, an ethically guided
gatekeepers will share only what is appropriate to the table of the audience because the
gatekeepers determine the quality and quantity of information that the public receive.

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2.4 EMPIRICAL STUDIES
Rebecca (2016) pointed out that using networked gatekeeping theory, this study analyzes
how social media is being integrated into morning news programming, allowing audience
members an opportunity to play a role in the gatekeeping process. Traditional
gatekeeping, along with the shift to networked gatekeeping, the levels of gatekeeping,
and gatekeeping through social media is discussed. A content analysis of morning news
programming found lower levels of social media integration than predicted and more
discussions of specific posts than any other types of social media references. Social
media references were also more specific to certain types of news segments. Implications
for the future of networked gatekeeping as well as future research are also discussed.
One of the studies that is similar study is one conducted by Enli (2007) key trend in
current broadcasting is the combination of traditional TV-formats and digital media. In
these multiplatform formats, the Internet and the mobile phone in particular are used as
return channels in order to stimulate audience activity. Studies of multi-platform formats
have mainly analyzed audience participation with cumulative influence on the
production, such as Big Brother and Pop Idol. In this article, I investigate a format that
combines traditional journalism with elements of audience participation. In the current
affairs format Seven-Thirty, the audience is invited to respond to issues raised in the
programme by sending text-messages via the mobile telephone (SMS). The viewers are
not guaranteed to get their messages aired; the moderator selects and rejects messages
according to the editorial policy, and thus functions as a classic "gatekeeper". The study
compares the text-messages received by the TV-5tation with the ones transmitted on-
screen, the main research questions are: What are the main conflicts between journalistic
norms of objectivity and participatory ideals of access? How are these conflicts handled
in the production? What characterizes the "gatekeeper" in the new media age? One of the
basic findings is that "gatekeepers" not only select and edit, but also fabricate text
messages.

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 CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter comprised of research design, area of study, population of study, sampling
size and technique, method of data collection and method of data analysis.
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

This study adopted survey research design. A survey research design according to Osuala
(2001) centers on individual and their opinion, belief, motivation and behavior. The
design was considered suitable for this study.
3.3 POPULATION OF THE STUDY

Ajayi (2009) describes population is a set of all possible cases of interest on a research
report. In most cases it is the group to which the researcher plans to generalize his
research. The population of this study is staff of the Punch newspaper who are 174
according to Punch newspaper website.
3.4 SAMPLE SIZE
For the purpose of this study, the sample size that was 121. The sample size was derived
using Taro Yamane formula. Sample is a group of people that are selected for research
purposes from which information is obtained. It is a sub-set of the study population that
are suitable enough to represent the population.
3.5 SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
This is a way to select a part or portion from a sampling frame or population to represent
the entire population usually when the population is large. The sampling technique used
in this study was non-probability (accidental sampling).
3.6 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF DATA INSTRUMENT
Since the data collection instrument (questionnaire) is a standard instrument of gathering
data, it will give accurate and unbiased data for effective and efficient analysis.

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Therefore, any generalization that may be arrived at will be re gathered as accurate and
genuine.
3.7 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
For the generation of primary data, the researcher distributed questionnaire individually
and personally to respondents. The questionnaire was collected back on completion.
3.8 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
Data from the research will be analyzed and presented in simple tables using simple
percentages and quantitative method of data analysis for descriptive purposes.

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