Gatekeeping and digital media Peter Olaf Looms

What am I going to talk about?

1. What is gatekeeping? gatekeeping? • • •

Who does it? Ho is it done? How Who is affected? affected?

2. What impact does gatekeeping have? •

Gatekeeping at different levels in organisations and society

3. What does it mean for media policy? 4. What actions are needed to keep it under control? control ?

Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

8 December 2010

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What is g gatekeeping? p g • Who does it? • How is it done? • Who is affected?

Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

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Walled city: Derry in the Middle Ages Source: http://www.derryswalls.com/maps.html

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ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

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Walled city: Derry in the Middle Ages Source: http://www.derryswalls.com/maps.html

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ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

8 December 2010

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Gate to Inca city Machu Picchu, Peru

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Chinese walled city: 建水 建水县 县

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Jianshui County

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The gatekeeping mechanism - portcullis

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The gatekeeping mechanism - drawbridge

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Gatekeeping: central questions Where are there gates? Who is the gatekeeper? Who are ”the gated”? How does it work?

Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

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Gatekeeping: Central terms

Term Gate

Explanation The point(s) at which passage is controlled The process of controlling passage

Gatekeeping Gatekeeper The “Gated” Gatekeeping mechanism

Peter Olaf Looms

The actor or stakeholder that performs gatekeeping The entity on whom gatekeeping is exercised The means used to carry out gatekeeping

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Gatekeeping: some cases

A. Watching TV in Hong Kong (NOW TV and free-to-air digital TV). B. American Idol on Star TV C. News widgets on television screens ( (samsung and dY Yahoo!) h !) D. Wikileaks on the Internet

Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

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Media “food chain” or value chain Program

TV-channel

TV-offering

TV-distribution

TV-reception

Rights

Viewer e e Information

Sources

Production Company

Peter Olaf Looms

Broadcaster

Operator

Transmission Company

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Consumer Electronics Manufacturer

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A. Watching TV in Hong Kong: pay TV or free

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A. Watching TV in Hong Kong: pay TV or free

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ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

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Pay TV Program

TV-channel

TV-offering

TV-distribution

TV-reception

Rights

Viewer e e Information

6

7

Sources

Production Company

Peter Olaf Looms

Broadcaster

Operator

Transmission Company

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

Consumer Electronics Manufacturer

8 December 2010

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Free--to Free to--air TV Program

TV-channel

TV-offering

TV-distribution

TV-reception

Rights

Viewer e e Information

Sources

Production Company

Peter Olaf Looms

Broadcaster

Operator

Transmission Company

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Consumer Electronics Manufacturer

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There are many gates in the value chain Program

TV-channel

TV-offering

TV-distribution

TV-reception

Rights

1

Viewer e e

Information

2

4

5

6

7

Sources

3 Production Company

Peter Olaf Looms

Broadcaster

Operator

Transmission Company

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

Consumer Electronics Manufacturer

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There are also gates within news production News item Research

Electronic Electronic News News Gathering item editing

A

B

Live news programme line-up & playout

C

D

TV journalist TV journalist TV journalist Executive producer research assistant ENG crew video/audio editor vision mixer graphics artist audio engineer captions artist graphics, captions subtitles

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B. American Idol on Star TV

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Value network for American Idol Main revenue streams

Advertisers Rights Holder Simon Fuller

Content Production

Broadcaster

Fox Broadcasting F B d ti Corporation

Satellite Operator Star TV

Transmission a s ss o Providers

The Viewer

Programme Sponsors

AT&T, Coca Cola & Ford

SMS Voting

AT&T (US only)

Product flow Revenue flow Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

8 December 2010

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Value network for American Idol Main revenue streams Commercial interests

Owned by News Corp

Sponsors

Satellite Operator

Transmission a s ss o Providers

Advertisers Rights Holder Simon Fuller

Content Production

Broadcaster

Fox Broadcasting F B d ti Corporation

Star TV

The Viewer

Programme Sponsors

AT&T, Coca Cola & Ford

SMS Voting

AT&T (US only)

Product flow Revenue flow Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

8 December 2010

22

C. News widgets on television screens Program

TV-channel

TV-offering

TV-distribution

TV-reception

Rights

Viewer e e Information

Sources

Production Company

Peter Olaf Looms

Broadcaster

Operator

Transmission Company

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

Samsung Manufacturer

8 December 2010

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C. News widgets on television screens

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A concealed gate in Portugal…

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A concealed gate in Portugal…

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C. News widgets on television screensscreens-Samsung Program

TV-channel

TV-offering

TV-distribution

TV-reception

Rights

Viewer e e Information

7 Sources

Production Company

Peter Olaf Looms

Broadcaster

Operator

Transmission Company

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Consumer Electronics Manufacturer

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D. Wikileaks and the Internet Portal

Domain Name

Host/ISPs

E-payment

Computer

Attacks

User Use Information

Sources

Wikileaks

Peter Olaf Looms

DNS.com

Amazon/OVH (France) Visa/PayPal National firewalls “Green Dam”

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D. Wikileaks

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What impact does gatekeeping g p g have?

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Sticky (keeps user with supplier)

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Makes switching supplier costly

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Media creation and distribution is opaque

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What does it mean for media policy? p y

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Need for a level playing field Convergence requires technology agnostic regulation technology-agnostic

Internet TV

Broadcast TV

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Need for transparency

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Need for transparency: Apple’s app. store

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Need for transparency: Android’s app. store

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What actions are needed to keep p it under control?

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3 actions to keep gatekeeping under control

1. Media regulation: • Pluralism and diversity of supply • Carrots Ca ots and sticks • Self-regulation (trade bodies) • Competition (anti-trust) and Fair Trading Legislation

2. Investigative journalism and academic research: • Understand how business models work in the digital world

3. Increase awareness of media production and distribution in education • Make media in schools, reflect on the process

Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

8 December 2010

40

3 actions to keep gatekeeping under control

1. Media regulation: • Pluralism and diversity of supply • Carrots Ca ots and sticks • Self-regulation (trade bodies) • Competition (anti-trust) and Fair Trading Legislation

2. Investigative journalism and academic research: • Understand how business models work in the digital world

3. Increase awareness of media production and distribution in education • Make media in schools, reflect on the process

Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

8 December 2010

41

3 actions to keep gatekeeping under control

1. Media regulation: • Pluralism and diversity of supply • Carrots Ca ots and sticks • Self-regulation (trade bodies) • Competition (anti-trust) and Fair Trading Legislation

2. Investigative journalism and academic research: • Understand how business models work in the digital world

3. Increase awareness of media production and distribution in education • Make media in schools, reflect on the process

Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

8 December 2010

42

Now it is your turn…

Questions?

Peter Olaf Looms

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Thank you!

Contact particulars Peter Olaf Looms DR, Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR Media Strategy & Projects DR-Byen Emil Holms Kanal 20 DK-0999 Copenhagen C DENMARK E: [email protected] M: +45 51 56 75 46 D: +45 35 20 83 66

Peter Olaf Looms

ECOM-ICOM Expert Address

8 December 2010

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