Journalists are bombarded with information from various sources. Their job of selecting and shaping the information that becomes news would be impossible without gate keeping. Gatekeeping describes the process by which news stories are filtered by journalists and editors for dispersal in print medium. The process comes into play every time a news paper or magazine reporter selects a source to interview for an article or a news story. It is the process of selecting, writing, editing, positioning, scheduling, repeating and otherwise massaging information to become news. Gatekeepers provide a picture of the world for the rest of us. Since the gate keeping function of print journalism has shifted under the changes of the digital information age, it is vital for scholars to understand the role of PR practitioner on present scenario of gatekeeping process and its impact on the PR practices. While the Internet has forever altered the way we read the news -increasingly on websites and mobile devices and less in the print publications of the past -the principles of gatekeeping still apply in many instances.
PR, Gatekeeping, Journalist, Practitioner, Challenges
