Incremental costs associated with additional volume are minuscule. Yet for the most part, even on the Internet, traditional production values remain in place. The articles read like print articles. The online publication mirrors the style, values and biases of its print counterpart. Certainly reasons exist to continue the gatekeeping role.
Audiences appreciate production values.
Attention spans are hardly infinite. No one knows, for example, why a Grecian play written 2,500 years ago and Hollywood's latest blockbuster happen to run about the same length. But it appears to have something to do with the human's capacity to absorb information. Gradually, things are changing. Not because of any enlightenment on the part of the gatekeepers.