This baseline study of gatekeeping in the Nigerian press follows the tradition of White
(1950) and Swider (1967) and reveals that as a concept, gatekeeping holds great promise in
African mass communication research. It used a survey research method to collect data
from 21 senior reporters and editors in four Nigerian newspapers and found that: (1)
corporate philosophies and policies of newspaper organizations affect gatekeeping
•operations without distinction as to whether the newspaper was privately or government
owned; (2) journalists working in privately-owned newspapers reported giving less
consideration to ownership factors in their selection of news; and (3) that prejudice and
personal preferences are played down considerably by the journalists.