Still Guarding the Gate?

Abstract

As more and more newspapers begin to deliver stories in electronic forms, journalists are re-examining their traditional roles in a world of exponentially expanding information. Most of the metro reporters and editors interviewed during a trio of USA case studies in the summer and early autumn of 1995 believe their function as gatekeepers remains vital, but they see it as being modified to encompass a need for interpretation and quality control. Their role becomes less about selecting stories for dissemination and more about bolstering the value of what they disseminate so that it rises to the crest of the information tidal wave.