Who are the gatekeepers of news? How effective is Investigative reporting in informing the public?

Because there is simply not enough room in a newspaper and not enough time on behalf of reporters to report every instance in the news, decisions need to be made as to what to report and when. Gatekeepers are the individuals who make these determinations as to what should be reported and what should be left out. In other words, they are the individuals who exercise news judgment. Most gatekeepers, including producers and editors, work behind the scenes - either trimming stories or expanding on major points made by some stories – tirelessly to decide what most deserves to be told and how.

Investigative reporting and its effectiveness were highly exemplified by the Watergate scandal, and as a result put this type of coverage into a “superficial” spotlight. This is because changing a story to stir up enthusiasm and make the public believe a certain idea is relatively easy to do. Today, reporters continue traditions made back in the early twentieth century in which abusive corporate practices were uncovered and an antitrust legislation was the result. Recently, “Washing Away,” a 2002 series, projected predictions about Hurricane Katrina, which came true just a few years later. For this, we can say that investigative reporting is not exactly effective in informing the public, because there is such a blend of perceptions that the public can take away from any story. This results in a story, which gray areas that extremely hard to uncover.