From Gatekeeping to Sensemaking: The Transformation of Journalism's Professional Function in the Platform Environment
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The subject of this study is the transformation of journalism's core professional function under the platformization of the media environment. The classical gatekeeping model defined the profession through the selection of messages at the entry point to the public sphere. The model can be traced from the work of Kurt Lewin and David Manning White to the multilevel filter theory of Pamela Shoemaker and Tim Vos. The article shows that in the platform environment this model has lost its universality. Entry points to the public sphere have multiplied, and they are now governed by recommender algorithms. Editorial offices still take part in selection but no longer hold a monopoly on deciding what reaches the audience. The visibility of a publication depends on platforms, audiences, and the logic of algorithmic amplification. Two questions are posed: can the loss of gatekeeping be measured, and what can replace selection as the foundation of the profession and of journalistic authority. The study employs quantitative analysis of the author's Russian News Cross-Platform Corpus (2026H1): 229,168 publications from eight federal Russian news outlets for the first half of 2026, including 42,705 exact website–platform pairs. Platform versions were compared with their website counterparts for the presence of a link to the original source, explicit attribution, publication timing, and topic. The scientific novelty lies in transferring Karl E. Weick's concept of sensemaking from organizational theory to journalism theory. Sensemaking is substantiated as the profession's new core function and an alternative to gatekeeping. In addition, the transformation of gatekeeping is operationalized and measured on corpus material for the first time. The analysis establishes that when content moves to Telegram, only 41.6% of posts retain a link to the original source; on VKontakte, 23.4%. The share of texts with explicit attribution falls from 81.8% to 53.8% on Telegram and from 74.4% to 31.3% on VKontakte. In 51.3% of pairs, the platform version appears before the website version. Two responses to the gatekeeping crisis are rejected: absorption into distributed curation (gatewatching) and the reduction of the professional mission to fact-checking. Both remain within the categorical frame of selection. The study concludes that the scarce resource of the platform environment is not fact but interpretation. The journalist is reconceived as an architect of epistemic assembly. A triad of professional competencies is substantiated: dialogic, instrumental, and ritual
Source: Филология научные исследования
Author: Aleksandr Vladimirovich Sokolov
Institution: Financial University
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7204695880