The story behind the decision: the influence of narrative in gatekeeping by trade media editors
Date
2018
Authors
Lattimore, George Walker, author
Hallahan, Kirk, advisor
Long, Marilee, committee member
Amidon, Timothy, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
This study conducted in-depth interviews to understand how 10 trade media editors in the renewable energy industry select articles for publication, how they conceptualize and use narrative as an article form, and the extent to which their conception of narrative affects their decision-making. Four research questions were explored as the focus of the investigation. While narrative was an important component of trade media offerings, editors did not conceptualize narratives in detail, and the role of narrative varied by publication. Subjective perception, or an editor's gut feeling, was stated as the predominant method for selection among articles and topics; however, participants said their subjective perception was informed by market research and ideas of how the audience will react. Furthermore, the gatekeeping decisions made in the selection and the development stages of the article generation process were highly influenced by the sources of input and mediums of output. Therefore, the gatekeeping decision-making process was described as nonlinear; and a model is presented that reflects the process' complexity. Most of the editors viewed narrative as being a longer article than other article forms, and therefore, the use of narrative was deemed more appropriate for articles in print where the reader could expect a longer form, such as case studies, company profiles, new market features, and new application or innovation features. The majority of participants expressed narrative was more valuable than other forms, but not necessarily more engaging, due to diverse readership and reader preferences. Value was attributed to narrative as a form for being more rare than other article types, building reader loyalty, providing variety of article types for the reader to choose between, and ensuring exclusivity of the story from being recreated by other publications. Narrative was not necessarily preferred over article forms, such as summary news reports, for publication, because they may require more work without the guarantee of higher reader interaction or engagement. Findings from these interviews were used to suggest five best practices for publishing narratives in trade media: 1. Establish standards for using narrative by medium and be consistent 2. Incentivize content providers to be aware of the publication's audience and to pitch articles using story types. 3. Encourage readers to share their own narratives to increase engagement and generate exclusive, community-driven content. 4. Look for writers who can balance style and structure with industry information. 5. Use multiple mediums (print and web) to generate complimentary forms of content around a particular theme.