The New Gatekeepers: The role of algorithms in digital media

The information age brought unprecedented availability of information to the public: an exponential shift in the ability of individuals to produce and access content. As a direct consequence, society needed to discover new ways of filtering the deluge of information, to make it humanly understandable and manageable.

Historically, the role of information gatekeepers has been played by human mediators, like journalists, tasked with understanding, prioritising, and presenting the most meaningful information. This mediator-audience relationship is fundamentally human: it is influenced by known, commonly understood constraints and limitations.

Today's information overload is no longer possible to manage by human mediators alone: for this reason, content providers have turned to machine-based automated filtering of information.

"The New Gatekeepers" analyses the differences that algorithmic filtering brings to the type and quality of information the public is exposed to, as opposed to instances of human content mediation. It analyses changes in type of content, in journalistic agenda setting process that incorporates algorithmic processes, and most importantly, change in the trust relationship between the public and the actors behind the choice of information they receive.