A Spokesperson Said…

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Neil Maggs delves into the world of gatekeeping and finds out where power really lies.

Gatekeepers are everywhere. They're key decision-makers that allow you to progress in life or hold you back. Neil Maggs asks who are these people? And how did they get there?

Gatekeepers are all around us. They decide who gets the party invite, the mortgage or the job. They control the flow of information around them and can choose to empower others or block them from progressing.  Gatekeepers speak on behalf of communities in the media - or they choose the speakers. But how did these gatekeepers acquire such authority? Who appointed them in the first place? And are they saying what communities actually think? Or is it all just a personal power trip?

In A Spokesperson Said, the Bristol journalist Neil Maggs takes a trip around his home city to see how gatekeeping works in practice - in communities, in politics and the media. He speaks to youth worker Delroy Hibbert who says the black community is often misrepresented in the news. Delroy jokes he's the third black person on the local media's list when comment is needed on issues of race. Neil hears calls for journalists to spread the net wider from Alex Raikes at the charity Stand Against Racism & Inequality. She says young people are often left out of the narrative in the reporting of knife crime.    

When an emergency evacuation forces hundreds of families out of their homes in a Bristol tower block, Neil is there to see how gatekeeping works in practice. Residents say they were left in the dark. Neil approaches the local council for comment and sits down with the campaign group ACORN who say they are empowering communities to bypass traditional gatekeepers.

Finally he interviews Professor Richard Sambrook who spent three decades working in news. He and his students reflect that social media algorithms are becoming the new gatekeepers as the digital age subverts traditional power structures.

Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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