The Journalist in the Network: A Shifting Rationale for the Gatekeeping Role and the Objectivity Norm

The move to a networked media environment presents a range of challenges to journalistic routines, roles, and norms. This article suggests that professional ethics have evolved to articulate and safeguard a traditional gatekeeping role that no longer exists; as a result, the rationale behind those ethics must shift to accommodate interconnections rather than discrete products and functions. Similarly, the notion of journalistic objectivity is open to renewed debate when detachment can translate into isolation from the rest of the network.