Readers as gatekeepers of online news: Brazil, China, and the United States

Abstract

The popularity of online news items is calculated by news sites as a function of reader behaviors, such as clicking on or reading articles, emailing them to others, commenting on or discussing them, and even linking to them in blogs. Online news sites often provide rank- ordered lists of popular articles that are updated throughout the day. Popularity reflects not only the interest of individuals, but it also can represent communication from an individual reader to other people. In the case of emailed articles, recipients may be friends, family or colleagues. When readers add comments below an article, they may reach anyone on the internet. When readers communicate with other readers, they extend the usual gatekeeping process but their selections may not reflect the news values of the journalists who put the sites together. This study compares the news values of readers in Brazil, China and the United States.