The role of the gatekeepers in selection of the news about children in visual and printed medi̇a

Although the target audience are not them, children watch the news regularly, willingly or not. They are exposed to the content as passive audience and affected by the news more than adults. The children are in the news when they face physical violence or sexual abuse or they are used in the news as an object to promote the emotional aspects of disasters like floods, earthquakes, fires and traffic accidents. When the researches about impact and representation of the news are evaluated, the results lead us to the `Gatekeepers? who are responsible for the selection of the content of the news. As the person that decides what should be regarded as news content and how long they will be on air, what gatekeepers should care about when it comes to the children and which. Criteria they should they follow. Following these questions, this thesis aims to analyse the roles of the gatekeepers in the selection of children-related news in visual and printed media. There are three presumptions in this thesis: In the current broadcasting perception, the children are abused in the news as a rating source; the age, gender, education level of gatekeepers and whether he/she has any children, the principles of the corporation he/she is working for, the broadcasting policy of the company, all these facts affect the a news selection and the style of broadcasting when a child has the main focus in the news. From this point of the view, interviews are made with gatekeepers, and in the end, the presumptions are verified.