This document summarizes a study on organizational gatekeeping practices in online news. It discusses how news organizations develop different socialization philosophies and practices for engaging audiences based on their available resources and structures. The study found that news has fragmented partly due to these organizational divergences. Differences in organizational practices provide variety in how news organizations present and distribute news.

1. DIGITAL DIVISIONS:
ORGANIZATIONAL GATEKEEPING
PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT OF
ONLINE NEWS
Josh Scacco, PhD @joshscacco
Purdue University
Alex Curry @tweetcurry
University ofTexas atAustin
Talia Stroud, PhD @taliastroud
University ofTexas atAustin

2. ENGAGING NEWS PROJECT
To provide research-based techniques for
engaging online audiences in commercially
viable and democratically beneficial ways.
@joshscacco @tweetcurry
@engagingnews

3. NEWS ENGAGEMENT
WORKSHOPS
@joshscacco @tweetcurry

4. APPROACH
“I fear the homogeneity hypothesis is too often treated
as a matter of faith rather than a starting point for
empirical analysis.” (Cook, 2006, p. 164)
Gatekeeping: the winnowing of information to the
select group of items that make up the news. (White,
1950)
@joshscacco @tweetcurry
Hierarchical Influences Model (Shoemaker & Reese, 2014; Shoemaker
&Vos, 2009)

6. RESULTS: RESOURCES
Internal
External
Other news organizations and the public
Allocation and newsroom structure

7. RESULTS: SOCIALIZATION
Internal
External
Public norms of engagement
Newsroom personnel

8. CONCLUSION
 News has fragmented, partly based on organizational
divergences.
 Organizations have developed different socializing
philosophies built within the structures of available
resources.
 Differences in organizational-level practices give
variety to the perspectives, packaging, and
dissemination of the news.

9. FOLLOW US!
@engagingnews
/engagingnewsproject
www.engagingnewsproject.org