حراسة البوابة في العصر الشبكي

Abstract EN

TSome argue that gatekeeping is essentially a descriptive theory that offers little or no predictive analytical ability.

Its basic value does not go beyond providing a theoretical framework that summarizes the forces in the gatekeeping process.

Critics emphasize that the foundations and concepts of the theory have also become unable to explain the method and mechanism of information flows in the networked communication era.

Building a theory of gatekeeping in mass communication is extremely important, as this process is more than just a selection of information or a series of decisions.

Rather, it can be considered as the comprehensive process by which the social reality is built.

Gatekeepers determine the social reality for the recipient by providing a specific view of the world.

Therefore, this study examines the scientific reviews of the gatekeeping theory to reveal the efficiency of the theory in understanding the latest communication developments.

Have the reviews succeeded in restoring and developing the theory, as well as preserving its analytical and explanatory value? And how does this theory deal with the new communication inputs? The paper is based on the assumption that the idea upon which the gatekeeping theory was based still exists and is active, despite the major conceptual challenges that have been brought about by technological and communication developments.

The reviews to which the theory underwent were consistent and coherent, and the theory restored its epistemological strength in dealing with the communicative phenomenon.