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

What you read in the paper, in a magazine, what you see on television, or hear on the radio are all chosen by a person called the gatekeeper. “The gatekeeper is a media person influencing messages en route” (Vivian 230). That staffer is responsible for choosing what message the public is going to see. They tend to work behind the scenes, because they prepare what is going to be put out there in the media. It is impossible to fit every detail in a news story, and that is where the gatekeeper comes in. They decide what to keep, what to omit and what the main point of the story will be. However, how the story is portrayed or the unwritten message out of the hands of the gatekeeper. What you see on the news is their decision, based on public preference and opinion. Most often, gatekeepers try to maintain the honesty and integrity in a story.
Much like gatekeepers are investigative reporters. Their job is to discover the truth and remain honest while doing it. Like Jim Hummel, an investigative reporter faces a lot of scrutiny because they are sometimes seen as brown nosers or muckrakers. These are not necessarily the best reputations to have because they make it more difficult to get the dirt on a story. All together, investigative reporting is crucial to the public because it prevents and exposes corruption and lies in the media.