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Kurt Zadek Lewin (1890-1947), was born in German. He was a great Psychologist and pioneer in Social Psychology. He developed the concept in the field of psychology called psychological “field” and “life space” in order to understand the human behavior and its important consideration of total life space.

His studies are more based on to understand a person’s own world, physical, mental and social through frequent conversation between his pre-memories, desire and his goals. And also his works help to understand the relationship between attitudes and behavior in the group or individuals.

Kurt Lewin coins the word called “Gatekeeping”. It’s nothing but to block unwanted or useless things by using a gate. Here the person who make a decision is called “Gatekeeper”. At first it is widely used in the field of psychology and later it occupies the field of communication. Now it’s one of the essential theories in communication studies.

Concept:

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.

Based on personal or social influences they let the information to the group. Through this process the unwanted, sensible and controversial information’s are removed by the gate keeper which helps to control the society or a group and letting them in a right path. In home mother plays the vital role and she has to decide what their kid’s needs and what should avoid.

gatekeeping theory

Source: charles taylor/Adobe Stock

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.

Example:

An international news channel receives numbers of news items within day like international terror issues, UN discussions, Texas bull fighting and religious abuse on international community.

A news channel can’t show all those news items to audience because it may affect the channel reputation in public and organizations policy.

Here, editor decides the news items especially he can’t show the Texas bull fighting because it is not internationally popular story. But the same time the news channel can’t show the religious abuses also because it may hurt audience directly and it may affect organizations policy also.

But international terror issues and UN discussions are universal common news that won’t affect the channel reputation in public and organizations policy.

News items:

N1: Texas bull fighting, N2: International terror issues, N3: UN discussions, N4: religious abuse on international community

Gatekeeper:

Chief Editor

Selected News Items:

N2: International terror issues, N3: UN discussions,

Discarded News Items: (on popularity)

N1: Texas bull fighting

Discarded News Items: (on policy)

N4: Religious abuse on International community

{ 75 comments… add one }
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  • Ganiyu oluwatosin 4m Olabisi Onabanjo Unive. November 26, 2012, 1:41 am

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  • M Amin Mashal April 21, 2013, 3:14 pm

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  • chumba July 5, 2013, 1:59 pm

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  • Pricess August 18, 2013, 10:16 pm

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  • Damilare Shoye August 27, 2013, 11:08 pm

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  • Norah September 13, 2013, 3:53 pm

    i’m a medical student, I came across “gatekeeping models” through the family medicine course. And the information I found here was really helpful.
    THANK YOU.

  • vibilaz October 20, 2013, 10:41 am

    its easy to understand and learning.i like it

  • Nicholas October 30, 2013, 7:22 pm

    It is very interesting to learn this theory . The model explains it all. very simple

  • Achuth November 30, 2013, 4:46 pm

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  • Chika Gideon Emeka February 2, 2014, 2:11 pm

    I found the information from this site very interesting. keep it up and more grace to ur elbows. Am a student of mass communication from The Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi. Cheers!

  • Kamran khattak February 8, 2014, 8:38 pm

    i m vry sorrow 4 my theory paper bt now and today me feel perfct about the important source of comm;Theory on the blog.thank u so much sir.

  • Eric Duah February 16, 2014, 11:16 pm

    I need your helps guys..i have a question which i dont get the concept well..I’av been asked you watch 3 videos and research into the producers background and tell what effect does these videos have on me using the gate keeping theory.

  • Eric Duah February 16, 2014, 11:18 pm

    How does the gate keeping theory affects our perception of the world

  • Kalisha boatemaa April 15, 2014, 4:48 am

    Very clear with the explanation please explain the other theories of mass communication for me it will help me in my up coming examination

  • ogunleye pelumi April 22, 2014, 5:51 pm

    kurt lewin has done a very good job,thank u very much kurt because ur work had really helped me.indeed u are d true gate keeper

  • ogunleye pelumi May 19, 2014, 3:17 pm

    my often justapoxition of dis theory never looks stale.tnks lewin for dis great job which deems to make me optimistic

  • Budu Emmanuel October 30, 2014, 4:33 am

    really helpful, thanks so much

  • tehreem November 1, 2014, 6:31 pm

    this site is really very useful for me..jazakALLAH…

  • tvrao December 10, 2014, 6:08 pm

    it was useful to journalists and faculty for mass communication

  • Ayahara Rize December 30, 2014, 3:33 am

    Thank you for sharing this. Although I am already finished with communication theories [during my first year in the university], I have already forgotten most of them. And it’s a big problem for me now because I’m currently working on my thesis. Anyway, I think this is very helpful. I hope that you can post more [updated] illustrations. More power to you! 🙂

  • Eyram Adzim February 9, 2015, 6:01 am

    This is such a precise and vivid information about what exactly gate keeping is all about. this is so cool. This is the best you can get.

  • MAYBIN MWAPE March 6, 2015, 1:58 pm

    I like the format. well summarized information this makes search gears much easier. thnx

  • nice knowldge..

  • sasi atapattu February 5, 2016, 4:04 pm

    thnkz a lot.. I got a very clear idea about the theory.

  • Farrukh Shameer May 31, 2016, 6:36 am

    It is very easy & simply understanding theory onyour site.you done very good job for media & communication students like me

  • Adeola Animashaun July 1, 2016, 10:41 pm

    I really like this theory it is simple and easily understood

  • Adeola Animashaun July 1, 2016, 10:43 pm

    I really like this theory it is simple and easily understood and i also have a clear understanding about it

  • RAUFU MUSLIYU July 10, 2016, 1:43 pm

    Gatekeeping Model

  • Bulbul Jamanur July 12, 2016, 10:05 am

    I got simply a very good but short content relevant to my search but I am desiring for more…There would be more examples regarding advertisement etc. but its cool. So Thanks and I hope This exam is important to everybody.

  • Ganesh Jadhav August 10, 2016, 8:14 am

    Thanks for explained theory but many students are varnaculer mediam if this possible to translate comm theory in other languages like Marathi ,Hindi

  • Jacquy August 16, 2016, 7:21 pm

    If one is doing research on the role of mass media in encouraging youths to get tested, what would be the best theory to apply?

  • Sean Lynn December 31, 2016, 11:20 am

    I just wanted a definition of the gatekeeper theory in journalism, this works.

  • Khurram Shahzad January 2, 2017, 1:16 am

    I really benefited to this blog and translated it in my urdu national language for my college assignment. I am thankful to blog admin.

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  • Tiwa April 25, 2017, 10:35 am

    Wow… I really grasped the explanation.. It’s highly comprehensive.. Kudos

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