ABSTRACT

There are many forces that influence legacy gatekeepers’ prioritization of scandalous news, and this chapter traces the ways in which they present themselves in new and unexpected ways. It identifies both the pitfalls and value of scandalous coverage, and emphasizes the need to weigh controversial information with a journalistic commitment to the public good. Influences at each of these levels overlap and contribute to a news selection process that favors the antagonistic and the scandalous. When news passes through these gates, not all scandal investigations are created equal and those done well are expensive and time-consuming. Social media gatekeepers reached a tipping point during the 2016 presidential election, when they themselves became the scandal. Social media opinion leaders, algorithms, and critical masses of users have emerged as a new class of gatekeepers that cull and present information for individual consumption. A feature that routinizes dramatic news selection on social media is “trending” stories.