Near-zero communication cost eliminated the gatekeeping function
Evidence
The problem is not only that gatekeepers have lost authority but also that the gatekeeping function itself has almost disappeared. As priestly epistemic authority over the word of God was displaced by the fifteenth-century invention of the movable-type printing press and the subsequent printing of the Bible in vernacular languages, so contemporary authorities have been sidelined by digital technology, which allows anyone to disseminate words and images at very little cost. When publication was very expensive, scholars, editors, and publishers exercised an unavoidable gatekeeping function: they decided what was worthy of dissemination. When the limited spectrum of public airways was the only way to broadcast voice and video, producers could decide what was worthy of being aired. Now there is no limit to the text and images that can be broadcast over Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and websites like Infowars. As the volume of what can be communicated approaches infinity and the cost approaches zero, the conventional gatekeeping function recedes. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 345
Categorization
- XREF: The printing-press parallel echoes the earlier ‘Removing editorial gatekeepers opened the way for conspiracy entrepreneurs’ chapter-6 claim and Innis’s communication bias work. — connects to: Instrumentalized communication destroys the possibility of shared truth — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 378; Internet communication reflects rather than transcends offline power relations — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 58; Increased contact builds mutual belief frameworks that reduce miscommunication and exploitation — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 703
- recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
Broader Connections
- Internet communication reflects rather than transcends offline power relations
#qualifies(0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 58 - Increased contact builds mutual belief frameworks that reduce miscommunication and exploitation
#qualifies(0.72) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 703 - Instrumentalized communication destroys the possibility of shared truth
#complicates(0.70) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 378