Gatekeeping is one of the media’s central roles in public life: people rely on mediators to transform information about billions of events into a manageable number of media messages. This process ...determines not only which information is selected, but also what the content and nature of messages, such as news, will be. Gatekeeping Theory describes the powerful process through which events are covered by the mass media, explaining how and why certain information either passes through gates or is closed off from media attention. This book is essential for understanding how even single, seemingly trivial gatekeeping decisions can come together to shape an audience’s view of the world, and illustrates what is at stake in the process.
Introduction: The Significance of Gatekeeping. Part I: Understanding Gatekeeping 1. Understanding the Concept 2. The Gatekeeping Process Part II: Gatekeeping--Levels of Analysis 3. The Individual Level of Analysis 4. The Communication Routines Level of Analysis 5. The Organizational Level of Analysis 6. The Social Institution Level of Analysis 7. The Social System Level of Analysis Part III: Theorizing about Gatekeeping 8. Field Theory and Gatekeeping 9. Gatekeeping Channels 10. Gatekeeping in the 21st Century
Pamela J. Shoemaker is John Ben Snow Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is author of News Around the World (with Akiba Cohen), How to Build Social Science Theories (with James Tankard and Dominic Lasorsa), and Mediating the Message (with Stephen Reese).
Tim P. Vos is Assistant Professor of Journalism Studies at the University of Missouri.
"More than a half century ago David Manning White watched newspaper editors pick wire stories for publication and called it ‘gatekeeping’—stories in or out. Today, scholars Pamela Shoemaker and Tim Vos point out, we use gatekeeping to explain how we make choices in many contexts and how our choices shape the cognitive worlds in which we all live. This excellent book shows that it not as simple as it looks."— Donald L. Shaw , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"Understanding the origins of the news reports and information available from an ever growing array of media is vital for citizens, communication professionals and scholars. Gatekeeping Theory provides a comprehensive examination of the processes involved in the construction of these media agendas."— Maxwell McCombs , University of Texas at Austin
"Shoemaker and Vos go deep into the historical roots of one of our field’s central concepts, integrate a broad collection of theoretical dimensions, and ultimately bring us a fresh vision of gatekeeping. This book should be required reading for journalism scholars who want to build a grounding in our field and engage in theoretical conversations for the future."— Dan Berkowitz , University of Iowa
"The gatekeeping process has compelled scholarly attention since its introduction, providing an intuitive thread through the many factors shaping media. Although conceptually originally predicated on scarcity and winnowing, gatekeeping still guides research—as this volume shows with theoretical imagination and precision--even in today’s media environment of seeming abundance."— Stephen D. Reese , University of Texas at Austin
'The reference list at the end of the book is extensive and gives good leads for further reading in this fascinating subject' - Lilly Hunter , AllmediaScotland.com.
The psychedelic alkaloid ibogaine has anti-addictive properties in both humans and animals
. Unlike most medications for the treatment of substance use disorders, anecdotal reports suggest that ...ibogaine has the potential to treat addiction to various substances, including opiates, alcohol and psychostimulants. The effects of ibogaine-like those of other psychedelic compounds-are long-lasting
, which has been attributed to its ability to modify addiction-related neural circuitry through the activation of neurotrophic factor signalling
. However, several safety concerns have hindered the clinical development of ibogaine, including its toxicity, hallucinogenic potential and tendency to induce cardiac arrhythmias. Here we apply the principles of function-oriented synthesis to identify the key structural elements of the potential therapeutic pharmacophore of ibogaine, and we use this information to engineer tabernanthalog-a water-soluble, non-hallucinogenic, non-toxic analogue of ibogaine that can be prepared in a single step. In rodents, tabernanthalog was found to promote structural neural plasticity, reduce alcohol- and heroin-seeking behaviour, and produce antidepressant-like effects. This work demonstrates that, through careful chemical design, it is possible to modify a psychedelic compound to produce a safer, non-hallucinogenic variant that has therapeutic potential.
To investigate patterns of prognostic associations over time of insulin- and obesity-related variables measured at diagnosis of early breast cancer (BC), focusing on whether the prognostic ...associations with distant recurrence and death changed over time.
Five hundred thirty-five nondiabetic women with T1-3, N0-1, M0 invasive BC diagnosed from 1989 to 1996 were included in the study. Insulin-related variables included fasting insulin, Homeostasis Model Assessment, C-peptide, and glucose. Obesity-related variables included weight, body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference, and leptin. Correlations were examined using the Pearson correlation coefficient and prognostic associations using the Cox model.
There was evidence that associations of baseline insulin-related variables with distant recurrence and death were not constant over time; univariable adverse prognostic associations were significant only during the first 5 years (eg, insulin quartile 4 v 1: hazard ratio HR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.39 to 3.86; P < .001 for distant disease-free survival DDFS; and HR, 2.85; 95% CI, 1.48 to 5.50; P = .002 for overall survival OS, with little attenuation of this pattern in multivariable analyses). In contrast, obesity-related variables (BMI, weight, leptin) exerted significant adverse univariable associations that were constant over time (eg, BMI quartile 4 v 2: HR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.82 for DDFS; P = .014; and HR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.16 to 1.93; P < .001 for OS); prognostic associations of leptin remained significant in multivariable analyses.
Baseline insulin- and obesity-related variables exert different patterns of prognostic associations over time in early BC.
BACKGROUNDSpinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by deficient expression of survival motor neuron (SMN) protein. New SMN-enhancing therapeutics are associated with variable clinical benefits. ...Limited knowledge of baseline and drug-induced SMN levels in disease-relevant tissues hinders efforts to optimize these treatments.METHODSSMN mRNA and protein levels were quantified in human tissues isolated during expedited autopsies.RESULTSSMN protein expression varied broadly among prenatal control spinal cord samples, but was restricted at relatively low levels in controls and SMA patients after 3 months of life. A 2.3-fold perinatal decrease in median SMN protein levels was not paralleled by comparable changes in SMN mRNA. In tissues isolated from nusinersen-treated SMA patients, antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) concentration and full-length (exon 7 including) SMN2 (SMN2-FL) mRNA level increases were highest in lumbar and thoracic spinal cord. An increased number of cells showed SMN immunolabeling in spinal cord of treated patients, but was not associated with an increase in whole-tissue SMN protein levels.CONCLUSIONSA normally occurring perinatal decrease in whole-tissue SMN protein levels supports efforts to initiate SMN-inducing therapies as soon after birth as possible. Limited ASO distribution to rostral spinal and brain regions in some patients likely limits clinical response of motor units in these regions for those patients. These results have important implications for optimizing treatment of SMA patients and warrant further investigations to enhance bioavailability of intrathecally administered ASOs.FUNDINGSMA Foundation, SMART, NIH (R01-NS096770, R01-NS062869), Ionis Pharmaceuticals, and PTC Therapeutics. Biogen provided support for absolute real-time RT-PCR.
To discover novel genes underlying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we aggregated exomes from 3,864 cases and 7,839 ancestry-matched controls. We observed a significant excess of rare ...protein-truncating variants among ALS cases, and these variants were concentrated in constrained genes. Through gene level analyses, we replicated known ALS genes including SOD1, NEK1 and FUS. We also observed multiple distinct protein-truncating variants in a highly constrained gene, DNAJC7. The signal in DNAJC7 exceeded genome-wide significance, and immunoblotting assays showed depletion of DNAJC7 protein in fibroblasts in a patient with ALS carrying the p.Arg156Ter variant. DNAJC7 encodes a member of the heat-shock protein family, HSP40, which, along with HSP70 proteins, facilitates protein homeostasis, including folding of newly synthesized polypeptides and clearance of degraded proteins. When these processes are not regulated, misfolding and accumulation of aberrant proteins can occur and lead to protein aggregation, which is a pathological hallmark of neurodegeneration. Our results highlight DNAJC7 as a novel gene for ALS.
The new Sentencing Council Guideline on sentencing offenders with mental disorders, effective from 1 October 2020, is essential reading for all psychiatrists who give evidence in the criminal courts, ...revealing something of required judicial thinking, our common ground on public safety concerns but differences in focus on culpability and punishment.
Ketamine, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and other psychoplastogens possess enormous potential as neurotherapeutics due to their ability to potently promote neuronal growth. Here, we report the ...first-ever structure–activity relationship study with the explicit goal of identifying novel psychoplastogens. We have discovered several key features of the psychoplastogenic pharmacophore and used this information to develop N,N-dimethylaminoisotryptamine (isoDMT) psychoplastogens that are easier to synthesize, have improved physicochemical properties, and possess reduced hallucinogenic potential as compared to their DMT counterparts.
PDF
