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Alternative media are media (newspapers, radio, television, movies, Internet, etc.) which are alternatives to the business or government-owned mass media
Mass media

Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a mainstream such as the population of a nation state....
. Proponents of alternative media argue that the mainstream media are biased. While sources of alternative media are also frequently biased (sometimes proudly so), the bias tends to be significantly different than that of the mainstream media, hence "alternative".






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Alternative media are media (newspapers, radio, television, movies, Internet, etc.) which are alternatives to the business or government-owned mass media
Mass media

Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a mainstream such as the population of a nation state....
. Proponents of alternative media argue that the mainstream media are biased. While sources of alternative media are also frequently biased (sometimes proudly so), the bias tends to be significantly different than that of the mainstream media, hence "alternative". As such, advocacy journalism
Advocacy journalism

Advocacy journalism is a genre of journalism that intentionally and transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually for some social or political purpose....
 tends to be a component of many alternative outlets.

Because the term "alternative" has connotations of self-marginalization, some media outlets now prefer the term "independent" over "alternative".

Propaganda model

Edward S. Herman
Edward S. Herman

Edward S. Herman is an economist and media analyst with a specialty in corporate and regulatory issues as well as political economy and the media....
 and Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky is an United States linguistics, philosopher, cognitive science, political activist, author, and lecturer. He is an Institute Professor emeritus and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
 proposed a concrete model for the filtering processes (biases) of mainstream media, especially in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, called the propaganda model
Propaganda model

The propaganda model is a theory advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky that alleges systemic biases in the mass media and seeks to explain them in terms of structural economic causes....
. They tested this empirically and presented extensive quantified evidence supporting the model. Authors such as Louis Althusser
Louis Althusser

Louis Pierre Althusser was a Marxist philosophy. He was born in Algeria and studied at the ?cole Normale Sup?rieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....
 have also written in detail about the problems of the mainstream press, and their writings have inspired the creation of many alternative press efforts.

Media


Press

The alternative press consists of printed publications that provide a different or dissident viewpoint than that provided by major mainstream and corporate newspapers, magazines, and other print media.

Factsheet Five
Factsheet Five

Factsheet Five was a periodical consisting almost exclusively of short reviews of privately produced printed matter along with contact details of the editors and publishers....
 publisher Mike Gunderloy described the alternative press "as sort of the 'grown-up' underground press
Underground press

The phrase underground press is most often used to refer to the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s....
. Whole Earth
Whole Earth Catalog

The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture catalog that granted "Access to Tools" published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998....
, the Boston Phoenix, and Mother Jones
Mother Jones (magazine)

Mother Jones is an small press, nonprofit magazine rooted in liberalism and Progressivism political values. It is widely known for its investigative reporting....
 are the sorts of things that fall in this classification." In contrast, Gunderloy described the underground press as "the real thing, before it gets slick, co-opted, and profitable. The underground press comes out in small quantities, is often illegible, treads on the thin ice of unmentionable subjects, and never carries ads for designer jeans."

See also

  • Jesse Macbeth
    Jesse Macbeth

    Jesse Adam Macbeth is an anti-war protester who falsely claimed to be an Army Ranger and veteran of the Iraq War. He lied in alternative media interviews that he and his unit routinely committed war crimes in Iraq....
  • Nexus (magazine)
  • Alternative media (U.S. political left)
    Alternative media (U.S. political left)

    This refers to alternative media espousing the views of the American political left. The piece covers alternative media sources including talk radio programs, blogs and other alternative media sources....
  • Alternative media (U.S. political right)
    Alternative media (U.S. political right)

    Alternative media in the United States usually refers to internet, talk radio, Printing, and television journalism and opinions which present a point of view that counters the alleged bias of mainstream media....
  • Alternative media in South Africa
    Alternative media in South Africa

    South Africa has a long history of alternative media. During the eighties there was a host of community and grassroots newspapers that supplied content that ran counter to the prevailing attitudes of the times....
  • Underground press
    Underground press

    The phrase underground press is most often used to refer to the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s....
  • Citizen media
    Citizen media

    The term citizen media refers to forms of Content produced by private citizens who are otherwise not professional journalists. Citizen journalism, participatory media and democratic media are related principles....
  • Media activism
    Media activism

    Media activism is activism that uses Mass media and communication technologies for social movement, and/or tries to change policies relating to media and communication ....
  • Mass media
    Mass media

    Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a mainstream such as the population of a nation state....
  • Media democracy
    Media democracy

    Media democracy is a production and distribution model which promotes a mass media system that informs and empowers all members of society, and enhances democratic values....
  • Pirate radio
    Pirate radio

    The term pirate radio usually refers to illegal or unregulated radio transmissions. Its etymology can be traced to the unlicensed nature of the transmission, but historically there has been occasional but notable offshore radio ? fitting the most common perception of a pirates ? as broadcasting bases....
  • Pirate television
    Pirate television

    A pirate television station is a broadcast TV station that operates without official or government licensing.Like its counterpart Pirate Radio, the term pirate TV lacks a specific universal interpretation....


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