Gatekeeping Theory

Gatekeeping Theory examines the process by which the billions of messages that are available in today’s media world get cut down and transformed into the hundreds of messages that reach a given person on a given day.

Pamela J. Shoemaker is John Ben Snow Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is author of News Around the World (with Akiba Cohen), How to Build Social Science Theories (with James Tankard and Dominic Lasorsa), and Mediating the Message (with Stephen Reese).

Tim P. Vos is Assistant Professor of Journalism Studies at the University of Missouri.