On Gatekeeping Functions

        Media is the watchdog, they say. It is the watchdog of society. If operated astutely, media functions as a bulwark against corruption, unethical, and illegal social practices. The role of media in creating a disciplined, well-ordered society is enormous. More importantly, reporting trustworthy and moral news is one of the key onuses of any mass media. 

        But occasionally, our mass media lose sight of their responsibilities and duties. I am not fascinated to contend with some of the international news outlets and entities that lack the ability to report credible stories and accurate facts. As a citizen of a Kingdom that has only a 66 percent literacy rate (2017), my key concern is with our local mass media. It misleads when they report news that is not credible and gravely under-researched.

        The recent viral short clip of a Bhutanese couple that appeared in the Border Security – Australia’s Front Line, for carrying some dried vegetables, betel nut (doma), dried cheese (chugo), and cordyceps is a textbook illustration of evidence. I am not stupefied to discover what the couple had in their luggage because, as we practice based on cultural rituals, they were carrying their friends' parcels, without knowing what was inside. However, the couple should have been aware of or informed by their agents that, for reasons of economic and food security, it is strictly prohibited to import plants and its products into Australia: 

"Import of plants and their products from outside Australia can risk introducing weeds, pests and diseases. These can threaten Australia's natural environment, our food security and economy" (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, Australian Government). 

        

        What I am appalled at is witnessing some of our media houses picking up stories about the incident. On the other side, people obsessed with social media blew off the roofs by scrolling through their social media feeds. And there, blind followers of social media assume the role of social media mouthpiece by further transmitting it. 

        While sensitisation of the travel risks and prohibited items are important, reporting credible news is quite another. The incident where the couple was interrogated at the airport happened way back in 2013, which is roughly 9 years ago. 

        At a time when we are unable to contain the wave of confusion created in society by mass media, we as media consumers never take the time to weigh the amount of truth it contains, choosing instead to spread the already contaminated and diseased information. 6 years ago, I wrote my impression of citizen journalism where every citizen can take ethically active roles in reporting credible news. 

        Why can’t we adopt Middle Path Journalism (Wangchuk, 2018), a conceptual framework for Bhutanese media developed by our very own communication scholar Dr Dorji Wangchuk? (Full article link here). This framework proposed based on 4Cs (Collectivism, Compassion, Commitments, and Contentment), which are very much rooted in our national developmental paradigm of Gross National Happiness (GNH) is simply intriguing and operational in our context. 

        Whether it is intended or unintended, the consequences created by the wrong media effect are colossal. We all have a responsibility to act as effective gatekeepers. As I write this article, I remembered Bittner's (1996) gatekeeper definition: 

any person or formally organized group directly involved in relaying or transferring information from one individual to another through a mass medium (p.10).

Bittner (1996) mentions 3 gatekeeping functions of the mass media:  

·       Limit

·       Expand

·       Reinterpret or Reorganise

Limit

Limit is restricting the quantity of something that is allowed or possible. The gatekeepers can limit the information that we get from mass media. Limiting can be done by editing or deleting the story. For example, editing the segment that is irrelevant or deleting the part of the information that is not suitable for the audience. 

Expand

Opposite to limit is expand. In this case, gatekeepers can provide a detailed account or version of the story by supplying facts, figures, or viewpoints, that are usually inaccessible to the readers. E.g., a news reporter attending the parliament debates or court hearings providing extra information about the deliberations. 

 

Reinterpret / Reorganise 

In reinterpret, gatekeepers can rearrange the information.  E.g., a reporter translating some foreign information to the local audience. 

        Whether it is the mass media or we as media consumers, we have the onus to cautiously perform each of these gatekeeping duties. People with objectionable purposes in the current technologically advanced world tend to: 

limit the information that is relevant and necessary,

expand the irrelevant and unnecessary and, 

reinterpret the relevant to make irrelevant and necessary to be unnecessary.  

        The ball is in our court. Next time when we access or share the information, ask ourselves, have I got a good gatekeeping function?