The previous chapters gave an account of the new forms of journalism that are coming into being due to the appearance of the internet and the web, along with related methods and practices. But the practitioner, to be effective, also needs to understand how these developments change the role of journalism as society's principal mode of storytelling and of the journalist as one who tells his audience what to think of itself and the rest of the world. The aim of this chapter is to address this question.

Singer suggests four approaches to this issue – gatekeeping, diffusion of innovation, sociology of news work and an eclectic framework for studying journalism as a cohesive force in a fragmented society. Because of its focus, the last one can be viewed as belonging to the functionalist paradigm. We will deal with the first, and its extension, agenda-setting.

The Journalist as a Gatekeeper

Gatekeeping theory appeared in communication studies almost six decides ago. The term was first introduced by social psychologist Kurt Lewin in his study of people's food habits. Lewin pointed out that decisions on what should reach the family table and what should not were made in certain areas of the food channel extending from the market or kitchen garden to the table. He termed these areas ‘gates’. Lewin noted that the same was true for the movement of news items through communication channels.