May the force be with you: The influence of gatekeeping forces on the professional role conceptions of print and online newspaper journalists

This dissertation examines the professional role conceptions of print and online newspaper journalists. Through employment of a framework combining gatekeeping theory with Shoemaker and Reese's (1996) hierarchical model of news influences, the influences of gatekeeping forces at three levels—individual, routines and extramedia—on the professional role conceptions of both groups were also assessed.; Data from a national Web-based survey of 655 newspaper journalists (456 print and 199 online) representing 271 daily newspapers, revealed that gatekeeping forces at each level tested displayed varying amounts of influence on the professional role conceptions of both groups. This finding was in contrast to H1 and H2, both of which predicted that routines level forces would exert more influence on professional role conceptions. However, the results confirm the findings of Shoemaker, Eicholz, Kim and Wrigley (2001), who concluded that gatekeeping theory, previously dismissed by some as simplistic, is actually a complex process.; Print newspaper journalists perceived the Interpretive/Investigative (H3) role conception as significantly more important than online newspaper journalists. No significant differences were found between the two groups in their perception of the importance of the Adversarial (H5) and Populist Mobilizer (H6) role conceptions. The two dimensions of the Disseminator role conception (H4) were analyzed separately. Online newspaper journalists rated getting information to the public quickly as significantly more important than print newspaper journalists, while there was no significant difference between the two groups in their perceptions of the importance of staying away from stories where factual content cannot be verified.