Gatekeeping, Gatewatching and the Art of Crowdsourcing in African Media Systems: A Case of Zambian Newsrooms

Abstract

This article reports on a study that contributes to the literature on gatekeeping, gatewatching and crowdsourcing in African contexts. It does so by significantly expanding the scope, and theoretically incorporating the value of information and message content, through which the study revealed how citizen journalists only participate in the already existing media agenda. Citizen journalists are not professional journalists, instead they transmit information using social media platforms. By analysing a total of 2 418 stories from social media users and conducting surveys among 314 journalists, the study was able to demonstrate that journalists and the political elites are the main creators of news media agenda. The findings also suggest that journalists do not crowdsource to obtain a diversity of opinions, but rather to validate their already made agenda. These findings, although consistent with the extant literature, present an important topic to the so far understudied area of Africa.

Keywords:

• gatekeeping
• gatewatching
• crowdsourcing
• social media participation
• Zambia