ABSTRACT
Those who tend the gates of reportage tend power. They are the ones who decide what the public “needs to know,” what is “appropriate,” what is “news,” what the public will “see,” and, to some extent, even who the “public” is, by the ways they direct content and marketing. They decide whether to lead on page 1 with a controversial story or to bury it in an inconspicuous place on an inside page, whether sources are considered reliable, whether to publish a story even if it angers advertisers and readers or viewers, whether to spend more air time on features and soft news than on hard news, whether to target a little-represented community or mainstream areas of a city. The gatekeepers must answer the question: “Will publishing a picture of the body of a drowning victim prevent others from drowning at the same spot, or will it only exploit a tragic situation to sell newspapers?” This chapter examines the process through which an image or video clip passes on its way to publication or broadcast.
