News media gatekeeping on digital platforms : a strategy for enhancing brand personality and news diffusion

Abstract

This cross-sectional qualitative mixed-methods study explores how news media organisations employ their gatekeeping activities to brand their news outlets and, subsequently, how the brand helps to diffuse their news stories. The focus is primarily on how radio in Ghana has capitalised on technological advancement to create an online presence through radio online digital brand extensions, thus increasing their news outlet's availability to media audiences for enhanced news dissemination. This coincides with the burgeoning emergence of digital content creators facilitated by technological advancement in the media space, resulting in traditional media losing its position as the sole news source and agenda setter. This notwithstanding, the gatekeeping performed by traditional media outlets and their credibility built over the years was found to sustain them in the digital era. Situated within the interpretive research paradigm, this exploratory mixed-method study is approached qualitatively, with the quantitative aspect serving an auxiliary role. It is informed by the gatekeeping and signalling theories. It purposively samples six online digital news media brands made up of three radio online brand extensions, namely myjoyonline.com, peacefmonline.com and citifmonline.com, and three solely online digital news brands, namely newsghana24.com, mynewsghana.net and modernghana.com. The research design used the NodeXL software to collect quantitative data from the Twitter handles of the six online digital brands to plot 24 network visualisation graphs over one month. This is followed by semi-structured interviews with the online news editors, social media managers and social media curators of the six news organisations. The study establishes that traditional media brand extensions are greatly advantaged in the digital era compared to their solely online digital brand counterparts. The brand identities built by traditional media through their normative gatekeeping decisions has translated into large audience followings on their digital media platforms. They are observed to follow a journalistic branding orientation. Solely online digital brands on the other hand follow a marketing brand orientation and they capitalise on their digital presence to improve their finances and sustainability. The study makes a two-fold recommendation to radio online digital brands on one hand and to solely online digital media brands on the other.

Ngokusebenzisa iindlela zophando ezixutyiweyo, esi sifundo siphonononga indlela amaqumrhu eendaba asebenzisa ngayo ukuhlela njengecebo lokuzakhela igama, kwaye xa selidumile elo gama liqhuba njani ekusasazeni iindaba. Kugxininiswa kwindlela amajelo osasazo ngonomathotholo eGhana abusebenzisa ngayo ubuchwepheshe ekuveleni kumaza omoya ngokwenza iminatha yonomathotholo omanyelwa kwi-intanethi, ngaloo ndlela kube kusandiswa amathuba okufumana iindaba kubaphulaphuli ngokomeleza iinkqubo zosasazo lweendaba. Oku kungqamana nokuhluma okunwenwayo kwabaqulunqi bemixholo ngobuchwepheshe bedijithali, nto leyo idala ukuba amajelo osasazo abefudula ekhona alahlekelwe yindawo yawo yesiqhelo apho ebekade ewodwa ekusasazeni iindaba nasekusekeni iajenda. Noxa kunjalo, indlela yokuhlela iindaba, esetyenziswa ngamajelo akudala nokuthembeka kwawo eluntwini okudaleke emva kweminyaka emininzi, kwenza ukuba la majelo angagqumeleleki kweli xesha lobuchwepheshe bedijithali. Esi sifundo sisebenzise amava abathathi nxaxheba nezinye iindlela ezininzi zophando kwaye sivelelwe ngenkalo yokuzathuza, lo gama inkalo yokusebenzisa amanani inendima eyidlalileyo nayo ekuncediseni uphando. Kuqwalaselwe iingcingane zokuhlela nokusasaza. Kuthathwe isampulu ngononophelo kumajelo eendaba edijithali amathandathu akhiwe ngeminatha emithathu yonomathotholo ofumaneka kwi-intanethi. La majelo ngala: myjoyonline.com, peacefmonline.com, citifmonline.com, namathathu angawomoya qha angala: newsghana24.com, mynewsghana.net, modernghana.com. Uyilo lophando lwasebenzisa isixhobo sobuchwepheshe esiyiNodeXL ekuqokeleleni iinkcukacha zolwazi ngokuqwalasela amanani, kumaqonga onxibelelwano lweTwitter kumajelo amathandathu, kwaqulunqwa iigrafu zababukeli ezingama-24 kwixesha elingangenyanga. Kwalandeliswa ngeendliwano ndlebe ezingaqingqwanga ngokupheleleyo nabahleli beendaba, abaphathi bamaqonga onxibelelwano, abagcini bamaqonga onxibelelwano amaqumrhu eendaba amathandathu amatsha. Isifundo safumanisa ukuba iminatha yosasazo yakudala inamandla kwixesha ledijithali xa ithelekiswa nale iyidijithali qwaba. Amajelo osasazo akudala selezenzele igama kwaye ukwaziwa kwamagama awo neendlela ahlela ngazo iindaba kukhokelela ekufumaneni abaphulaphuli abaninzi kumaqonga awo edijithali. Abonakala elandela icebo lokusebenzisa ukwaziwa kwegama. Amajelo edijithali qwaba wona alandela icebo lokuququzelela ukwazisa igama kwaye axhathise ngokuba nawo ekhona kumaza edijithali ukuze akhulise imali yawo nozinzo. Esi sifundo senze iingcebiso ezimacala mabini, okokuqala kumajelo oonomathotholo bedijithali, okwesibini kumajelo edijithali qwaba.