Media as Actors of Two-Stage Cultural Gatekeeping: Theoretical Framework and Interdisciplinary Context

Abstract

The responsibility for the lack of media coverage of cultural heritage topics is often attributed to the media. While this attitude may be largely justified, it is also important to point out certain failures on the part of cultural institutions themselves. It is important to point out that cultural professionals (in museums, heritage offices, archives, etc.), including those in positions of cooperation with the media (PR managers), also play a key role in determining which parts of cultural heritage are considered representative, relevant or worthy of media visibility. This study presents a rather unique and hitherto unexplored systematic perspective on the role of (not only) the media in preserving, selecting and communicating cultural content. The article attempts to create a new discourse that allows for a more critical and comprehensive understanding of media and cultural institutions as examples of power and information selection in the cultural sphere. On theoretical level, it presents a new two-stage model of cultural gatekeeping that describes the mediatization of cultural values. The proposed model presents a new analytical framework for examining the selection and mediation of cultural heritage in the media. This perspective contributes not only to the theoretical extension of the gatekeeping concept, but also to the practical connection between academic reflection and the challenges of contemporary cultural and media practice. The thesis thus opens up space for more intensive interdisciplinary connections between media and cultural spaces. It suggests new perspectives for further research, as well as for education emphasizing the necessity of quality training of professionals working in media and cultural institutions, with the emphasis on the so-called cumulative skills.