The role of gatekeepers in the social construction of reality in Albanian news media: Impact on the representation of children in the news

News has been widely recognized to play an important role in the construction of social reality. As Hall (1982:64) suggests, reality has to go through a process of 'selecting and structuring' before being presented in the news. The decision in determining what makes news is left to the so-called gatekeepers of the media. This decision-making process leads to some events being overrepresented in the news while others are ignored or marginalized. Typical examples of the latter are issues related to children. By taking the representation of children in the news as a starting point, this chapter analyzes the potential of the Albanian news media to construct a social reality that is inclusive to all of society's issues and voices. As a post-communist country, which lacks an independent and professional media, Albania is a good setting to investigate how power structures in the media prevent social issues from being represented in the news. Conclusions from the analysis confirm that there is an overwhelming presence of politics and political voices in the news. Social issues remain part of a hidden reality, and are widely under-represented.

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