Functions of communication
structure of foreign news: The presentation
of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four
foreign newspapers’ in the Journal of Interna-
tional Peace Research, 1 (1965) and reprinted
in Th e Manufacture ofNews (Constable, 1973),
edited by Stanley Cohen and Jock Young, has
proved a focal point for those who ask the ques-
tions: What qualifi es as news? What makes one
item of news predominate over another?
World events stream towards a revolving door
of criteria for news selection, these operating
according to media perception and undergoing
a process of gatekeeping. Th e more an event
fulfi ls one or several of the criteria, the more
likely it will be treated as news and the more it
will continue to be regarded as newsworthy. For
a diagrammatic representation of the model,
see James Watson’s Media Communication: An
Introduction to Theory and Process (Palgrave
Macmillan, 3rd edition, 2008), Chapter 5, ‘Th e
news, gates, agendas and values’, page 158. For
details of the criteria identifi ed by Galtung and
Ruge, see news values. See also topic guide
under communication models.
Games See transactional analysis.
Gantt chart Named after Henry Lawrence
Gantt and originally developed in the early
twentieth century. Th e chart is still widely used
in the communications fi eld to plan and track
the schedule of activities required for events,
programmes or campaigns. Basically, activities
are plotted from top to bottom (with the initial
activity at the top and the last at the bottom)
along the vertical axis against a time-frame plot-
ted along the horizontal axis.
Gatekeeping To reach its intended target, every
message has to pass through many ‘gates’; some
will be wide open, some ajar, some tightly closed.
At work, the boss’s secretary is the archetypal
gatekeeper. She may be under instruction to
welcome callers or delay them, by letter, by
telephone or physically by ‘guarding’ the boss’s
door (though it is interesting to conjecture on
how far the mobile phone has impacted on this
cosy arrangement).
Gatekeeping in the media involves the selec-
tion or rejection of material made according
to news values which arise from the specifi c
character and objectives of the medium (tabloid
newspaper, TV, etc.) and of the organization
through which the medium operates.
Th e process and eff ect of gatekeeping in the
media have undergone substantial modifi cation
in the digital age. Traditional media no longer
have the monopoly of channels of communica-
tion; the internet now challenges newspapers,industrial society that are central to its survival.
Th ese include the delineation and maintenance
of boundaries (social, cultural, etc.); the defi ni-
tion of major structural units of society and the
connections between them; and an overriding
concern with system maintenance. Th is school
of analysis has been particularly strong in the
US.
Within the functionalist perspective, activities
that contribute to the survival of a system are
known as eufunctions; those which contribute
to disturbance are known as dysfunctions. A
distinction is also made between manifest and
latent functions, the one intended and recog-
nized by the participants, the other neither
intended nor recognized.
Th e functionalist approach makes challenge-
able assumptions about consensus over the
goals of society, leaving untouched important
questions about the source of these goals and the
degree to which an identifi ed source may infl u-
ence the nature of the social structure and social
action. Its tendency is to legitimize the status
quo and to emphasize the predominance of the
whole over the parts, overlooking alternative
means of achieving the same or similar func-
tions. See marxist (mode of media analysis).
Functions of communication See communi-
cation, functions.
Functions of mass media See normative
theories of mass media.
G
Gagging order Issued by judges to restrain the
publication or broadcast of information where
it is considered that such information breaches
the law. Companies in the UK may seek gagging
orders to prevent communication to the public
that seems a threat to commercial confi dential-
ity; individuals may seek the imposition of such
orders to protect their personal privacy.
Th e human rights act (uk), 2000, emanat-
ing from the European Convention of Human
Rights forbids, for example, publication of details
of a person’s heath. Deemed a ‘private matter’,
this nevertheless raises diffi cult questions when
a person’s individual heath – say if he/she is a
health worker suff ering from HIV – may have
implications for the public. See topic guide
under media: freedom, censorship.
Galtung and Ruge’s model of selective
gatekeeping, 1965 Whenever ‘newsworthi-
ness’ is discussed and analysed, the names of
Johan Galtung and Mari Ruge are likely to be
mentioned before all others. Th eir article, ‘Th e