Alternative media
Encyclopedia
Alternative media are media
(newspapers, radio, television, magazines, movies, Internet, etc.) which provide alternative
information
to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned
. Alternative media differ from mainstream media along one or more of the following dimensions: their content, aesthetic, modes of production, modes of distribution, and audience relations. Alternative media often aim to challenge existing powers, to represent marginalized groups, and to foster horizontal linkages among communities of interest. Proponents of alternative media argue that the mainstream media are bias
ed in the selection and framing of news and information. While sources of alternative media can also be biased (sometimes proudly so), proponents claim that the bias is significantly different than that of the mainstream media because they have a different set of values, objectives, and frameworks. Hence these media provide an "alternative" viewpoint, different information and interpretations of the world that cannot be found in the mainstream. As such, advocacy journalism
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".
Several different categories of media may fall under the heading of alternative media. These include, but are not limited to, radical and dissident media, social movement media, ethnic/racial media, indigenous media, community media, subcultural media, student media, and avant-garde media. Each of these categories highlights the perceived shortcomings of dominant media to serve particular audiences, aims and interests, and attempts to overcome these shortcomings through their own media.
The traditional, binary definition of alternative media as stated above has been expanded in the last decade. Simply comparing alternative media to the mainstream media ignores the profound effect that making media has on the makers. As producers and actors within their community, modern alternative media activists redefine their self-image, their interpretation of citizenship, and their world. Clemencia Rodriguez
explains, "I could see how producing alternative media messages implies much more than simply challenging the mainstream media ... It implies having the opportunity to create one's own images of self and environment; it implies being able to recodify one's own identity with the signs and codes that one chooses, thereby disrupting the traditional acceptance of those imposed by outside sources.”
With the increasing importance attributed to digital technologies, questions have arisen about where digital media fit in the dichotomy between alternative and mainstream media. Blogs, Facebook
, Twitter
and other similar sites, while not necessarily created to be information media, increasingly are being used to spread news and information, potentially acting as alternative media as they allow ordinary citizens to bypass the gatekeepers of traditional, mainstream media and share the information and perspectives these citizens deem important. Additionally, digital media provide an alternative space for deviant, dissident or non-traditional views, and allow for the creation of new, alternative communities that can provide a voice for those normally marginalized by the mainstream media. However, some have criticized the weaknesses of the Web. First, for its ability to act as both "alternative and a mass medium brings with it the tension of in-group and out-group communication." Second, the Web "rarely lives up to its potential" with constraints to access.
Digital technologies have also led to an alternative form of video more commonly known as citizen generated journalism. Individuals and smaller groups have the potential to describe and make public their interpretations of the world. Video shot on camcorders, FLIP cameras, and now cell phones have been utilized by the alternative media to commonly show human rights abuses. In turn the mainstream media picks up on these videos when it fits their narrative of what it deems "newsworthy".
and Noam Chomsky
proposed a concrete model for the filtering processes (biases) of mainstream media, especially in the United States
, called the propaganda model
. They tested this empirically and presented extensive quantified evidence supporting the model. Communication scholar Robert W. McChesney
, inspired in part by the work of Chomsky and Herman, has linked the failures of the mainstream press primarily to corporate ownership, pro-corporate public policy, and the myth of "professional journalism." He has published extensively on the failures of the mainstream press, and advocates scholarship in the study of the political economy of the media, the growth of alternative media, and comprehensive media policy reforms. Ben Bagdikian
has also written about the takeover of biased media, with particular attention to the giant conglomerates that own them. He argues that because five large conglomerates own the majority of American media, politics and general media influence in America are in jeopardy.
Whereas some alternative media theorists (e.g., Chris Atton
) propose broad definitions of media alterity, parecon theorist and Z Magazine cofounder Michael Albert incorporates the politico-economic critique of mainstream media into his definition of alternative media. In answering the question "What makes alternative media alternative?" he suggests that alternative media institutions should feature an anti-corporate structure, not just alternative media content. Along these lines, Albert has criticized publications such as The Nation and the Village Voice
for replicating corporate hierarchies and divisions of labor.
While the Propaganda Model resonates in productive ways with the way in which media systems have developed in the United States context, this theory might fall short in describing the situation in nations outside of the American context. The Propaganda Model would have a hard time explaining nations with a weak communications infrastructure (somewhere like Zimbabwe), heavily funded and state sponsored public broadcasting
television station
s (such as Australia), or with a strong tradition of partisan print and televised journalism.
Factsheet Five
publisher Mike Gunderloy described the alternative press as "sort of the 'grown-up' underground press
. Whole Earth
, the Boston Phoenix, and Mother Jones
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."
An example of alternative media is tactical media
, which uses 'hit-and-run' tactics to bring attention to an emerging problem. Often tactical media attempts to expose large corporations that control sources of mainstream media.
One prominent NGO dedicated to tactical media practices and info-activism is the Tactical Technology Collective
which assists human rights advocates in using technology. They have released several toolkits freely to the global community, including NGO In A Box South Asia
, which assists in the setting up the framework of a self-sustaining NGO, Security-In-A-Box, a collection of software to keep data secure and safe for NGOs operating in potentially hostile political climates, and their new short form toolkit 10 Tactics, which "... provides original and artful ways for rights advocates to capture attention and communicate a cause".
Examples of avant-garde media can be found in the works of the Situationist International, Dadaism, Surrealism
, Punk literature
, Epic Theatre
, Theatre of the Oppressed
, Stencil graffiti
. Groups like the Situationist International bring to the table questions of how alternative media can be conceptualized as a formal strategy. While the group was largely composed of students, professors, intellectuals, etc., the techniques they choose to use(such as détournement
) address the question of alternative media as an aesthetic practice.
and low-power FM (LPFM). Such stations typically broadcast with less wattage than commercial or public/state-run broadcasters, and are often non-commercial and non-profit in nature. In the United States
, a special class of stations known as low-power FM (LPFM) stations were first authorized by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) in January 2000. These stations are authorized to provide non-commercial, educational broadcasting and cannot operate with an effective radiated power of more than 100 watts. LPFM services were authorized to meet the increasing demand which existed in the United States for the creation of new, hyper-local radio outlets that would be grounded in their respective communities. The Prometheus Radio Project
is a grassroots organization in the United States which advocates the establishment of LPFM stations and provides assistance to start-up LPFM stations.
In addition, non-commercial broadcasters in the United States are also afforded exclusive use of the FM spectrum between 88.1 and 91.9 megahertz. This portion of the dial includes some radio stations which could be classified as alternative media, including community-run and student-run radio stations, though there also exist many stations that are affiliated with large national broadcasters such as National Public Radio or large religious organizations.
Throughout the world, numerous other countries have also authorized community radio services, including Australia
, Canada
, the United Kingdom
, the Netherlands
, Hungary
, Ireland
, Nepal
, New Zealand
, South Africa
, Sweden
, and many others. In many countries, including the United States, pirate radio
stations also operate without any official license, in many cases providing programming to communities underserved by licensed broadcasters.
and racial media outlets, including ethnic newspapers, radio stations and television programs, typically target specific ethnic and racial groups instead of the general population, such as immigrant audience groups. In many cases, ethnic media are regarded as media which are entirely created by and for ethnic groups within their respective host countries, with content in their native languages, though many ethnic media outlets are in fact operated by transnational organizations or even by mainstream corporations, while others are commercial operations, even if they still arguably fulfill a role as an ethnic/racial representative for their respective communities within the larger media landscape.
While ethnic media might provide a useful category of analysis, it can sometimes, as Shi points out, run the risk of homogenizing all members of a certain given ethnic group into a single overarching descriptive category. When one uses such categories, power relations, differences in political views, questions of gender, and many other key issues might become erased. For example, take the rise of the African American press in the United States. Some publishers, such as the California Eagle under the leadership of Charlotta Bass
displayed a much more explicitly progressive position than other popular newspapers such as the Chicago Defender.
When using this term, it is useful to think about historical context, internal composition of the group, and possible political or cultural differences between members of the group.
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
(newspapers, radio, television, magazines, movies, Internet, etc.) which provide alternative
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned
State media
State media or state-owned media is media for mass communication which is ultimately controlled and/or funded by the state. These news outlets may be the sole media outlet or may exist in competition with privately-controlled media.-Overview:...
. Alternative media differ from mainstream media along one or more of the following dimensions: their content, aesthetic, modes of production, modes of distribution, and audience relations. Alternative media often aim to challenge existing powers, to represent marginalized groups, and to foster horizontal linkages among communities of interest. Proponents of alternative media argue that the mainstream media are bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
ed in the selection and framing of news and information. While sources of alternative media can also be biased (sometimes proudly so), proponents claim that the bias is significantly different than that of the mainstream media because they have a different set of values, objectives, and frameworks. Hence these media provide an "alternative" viewpoint, different information and interpretations of the world that cannot be found in the mainstream. 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. Because it is intended to be factual, it is distinguished from propaganda...
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".
Several different categories of media may fall under the heading of alternative media. These include, but are not limited to, radical and dissident media, social movement media, ethnic/racial media, indigenous media, community media, subcultural media, student media, and avant-garde media. Each of these categories highlights the perceived shortcomings of dominant media to serve particular audiences, aims and interests, and attempts to overcome these shortcomings through their own media.
The traditional, binary definition of alternative media as stated above has been expanded in the last decade. Simply comparing alternative media to the mainstream media ignores the profound effect that making media has on the makers. As producers and actors within their community, modern alternative media activists redefine their self-image, their interpretation of citizenship, and their world. Clemencia Rodriguez
Clemencia Rodriguez
Clemencia Rodriguez is a Colombian US-based media and communication scholar recognized for her role in establishing and promoting the field of alternative media studies in English language media studies, notably through her work on 'citizens' media,' a term she coined in her 2001 book Fissures in...
explains, "I could see how producing alternative media messages implies much more than simply challenging the mainstream media ... It implies having the opportunity to create one's own images of self and environment; it implies being able to recodify one's own identity with the signs and codes that one chooses, thereby disrupting the traditional acceptance of those imposed by outside sources.”
With the increasing importance attributed to digital technologies, questions have arisen about where digital media fit in the dichotomy between alternative and mainstream media. Blogs, Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and other similar sites, while not necessarily created to be information media, increasingly are being used to spread news and information, potentially acting as alternative media as they allow ordinary citizens to bypass the gatekeepers of traditional, mainstream media and share the information and perspectives these citizens deem important. Additionally, digital media provide an alternative space for deviant, dissident or non-traditional views, and allow for the creation of new, alternative communities that can provide a voice for those normally marginalized by the mainstream media. However, some have criticized the weaknesses of the Web. First, for its ability to act as both "alternative and a mass medium brings with it the tension of in-group and out-group communication." Second, the Web "rarely lives up to its potential" with constraints to access.
Digital technologies have also led to an alternative form of video more commonly known as citizen generated journalism. Individuals and smaller groups have the potential to describe and make public their interpretations of the world. Video shot on camcorders, FLIP cameras, and now cell phones have been utilized by the alternative media to commonly show human rights abuses. In turn the mainstream media picks up on these videos when it fits their narrative of what it deems "newsworthy".
Propaganda model
Edward S. HermanEdward S. Herman
Edward S. Herman is an American economist and media analyst with a specialty in corporate and regulatory issues as well as political economy and the media. He is Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He also teaches at Annenberg School for...
and Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
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 constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, called the propaganda model
Propaganda model
The propaganda model is a conceptual model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky that states how propaganda, including systemic biases, function in mass media...
. They tested this empirically and presented extensive quantified evidence supporting the model. Communication scholar Robert W. McChesney
Robert W. McChesney
Robert Waterman McChesney is an American professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic...
, inspired in part by the work of Chomsky and Herman, has linked the failures of the mainstream press primarily to corporate ownership, pro-corporate public policy, and the myth of "professional journalism." He has published extensively on the failures of the mainstream press, and advocates scholarship in the study of the political economy of the media, the growth of alternative media, and comprehensive media policy reforms. Ben Bagdikian
Ben Bagdikian
Ben Haig Bagdikian is an American educator and journalist. Bagdikian has made journalism his profession since 1941. He is a significant American media critic and the dean emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism...
has also written about the takeover of biased media, with particular attention to the giant conglomerates that own them. He argues that because five large conglomerates own the majority of American media, politics and general media influence in America are in jeopardy.
Whereas some alternative media theorists (e.g., Chris Atton
Chris Atton
Christopher Frank Atton is Professor of Media and Culture in the School of Arts and Creative Industries at Edinburgh Napier University...
) propose broad definitions of media alterity, parecon theorist and Z Magazine cofounder Michael Albert incorporates the politico-economic critique of mainstream media into his definition of alternative media. In answering the question "What makes alternative media alternative?" he suggests that alternative media institutions should feature an anti-corporate structure, not just alternative media content. Along these lines, Albert has criticized publications such as The Nation and the Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
for replicating corporate hierarchies and divisions of labor.
While the Propaganda Model resonates in productive ways with the way in which media systems have developed in the United States context, this theory might fall short in describing the situation in nations outside of the American context. The Propaganda Model would have a hard time explaining nations with a weak communications infrastructure (somewhere like Zimbabwe), heavily funded and state sponsored public broadcasting
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
s (such as Australia), or with a strong tradition of partisan print and televised journalism.
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 mostly consisting 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 underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
. Whole Earth
Whole Earth Catalog
The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture catalog 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 American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
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."
An example of alternative media is tactical media
Tactical media
Tactical media is a term coined in 1997, to de note a form of media activism that privileges temporary, hit-and-run interventions in the media sphere over the creation of permanent and alternative media outlets. Tactical media describes interventionist media art practices that engage and critique...
, which uses 'hit-and-run' tactics to bring attention to an emerging problem. Often tactical media attempts to expose large corporations that control sources of mainstream media.
One prominent NGO dedicated to tactical media practices and info-activism is the Tactical Technology Collective
Tactical Technology Collective
The Tactical Technology Collective is an international nongovernmental organization that trains rights advocates to deploy "information and communications technologies - social media tools, mobile phones, digital security and information design." It works with groups in "developing and transition...
which assists human rights advocates in using technology. They have released several toolkits freely to the global community, including NGO In A Box South Asia
NGO In A Box South Asia
- What is NGO-in-a-box? :NGO-in-a-box is a collection of Free and Open Source Software tools selected for use by non-profit organisations. The tools are distributedin downloadable form and as a physical box set of CDs...
, which assists in the setting up the framework of a self-sustaining NGO, Security-In-A-Box, a collection of software to keep data secure and safe for NGOs operating in potentially hostile political climates, and their new short form toolkit 10 Tactics, which "... provides original and artful ways for rights advocates to capture attention and communicate a cause".
Avant-garde media
The category of avant-garde media emphasizes the experimental and innovative aspect of a certain kind of alternative media that stands out for its aesthetic qualities and that is usually produced by artists.Examples of avant-garde media can be found in the works of the Situationist International, Dadaism, Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, Punk literature
Punk literature
Punk literature is a form of literature that emerged from the punk subculture. The attitude and ideology of punk rock gave rise to distinctive characteristics in the writing it manifested...
, Epic Theatre
Epic theatre
Epic theatre was a theatrical movement arising in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners, including Erwin Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and, most famously, Bertolt Brecht...
, Theatre of the Oppressed
Theatre of the Oppressed
The Theatre of the Oppressed describes a range of theatrical forms that the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal first elaborated in the 1960s, initially in Brazil and later in Europe. Boal was influenced by the work of the educator and theorist Paulo Freire. Boal's techniques use theatre as...
, Stencil graffiti
Stencil graffiti
Stencil graffiti makes use of a paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.The process of stenciling...
. Groups like the Situationist International bring to the table questions of how alternative media can be conceptualized as a formal strategy. While the group was largely composed of students, professors, intellectuals, etc., the techniques they choose to use(such as détournement
Detournement
A détournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and consist in "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself." Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called situationist prank that was...
) address the question of alternative media as an aesthetic practice.
Community, low-power and pirate radio
In many countries around the world, specific categories of radio stations are licensed to provided targeted broadcasts to specific communities, including community radioCommunity radio
Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
and low-power FM (LPFM). Such stations typically broadcast with less wattage than commercial or public/state-run broadcasters, and are often non-commercial and non-profit in nature. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a special class of stations known as low-power FM (LPFM) stations were first authorized by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) in January 2000. These stations are authorized to provide non-commercial, educational broadcasting and cannot operate with an effective radiated power of more than 100 watts. LPFM services were authorized to meet the increasing demand which existed in the United States for the creation of new, hyper-local radio outlets that would be grounded in their respective communities. The Prometheus Radio Project
Prometheus Radio Project
The Prometheus Radio Project is a non-profit advocacy and community organizing group committed to building an inclusive and representative media landscape in the United States and around the world. They are working to create a network of low power community radio stations...
is a grassroots organization in the United States which advocates the establishment of LPFM stations and provides assistance to start-up LPFM stations.
In addition, non-commercial broadcasters in the United States are also afforded exclusive use of the FM spectrum between 88.1 and 91.9 megahertz. This portion of the dial includes some radio stations which could be classified as alternative media, including community-run and student-run radio stations, though there also exist many stations that are affiliated with large national broadcasters such as National Public Radio or large religious organizations.
Throughout the world, numerous other countries have also authorized community radio services, including Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and many others. In many countries, including the United States, pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
stations also operate without any official license, in many cases providing programming to communities underserved by licensed broadcasters.
Ethnic and racial media
Ethnic mediaEthnic media
- Ethnic Media :Ethnic Media is media fashioned with a particular ethnic minority group or ethnic minority community, in mind.Academic Yu Shi tenders an operational definition for ethnic media: “Ethnic media are often regarded as media by and for ethnics in a host country with content in ethnic...
and racial media outlets, including ethnic newspapers, radio stations and television programs, typically target specific ethnic and racial groups instead of the general population, such as immigrant audience groups. In many cases, ethnic media are regarded as media which are entirely created by and for ethnic groups within their respective host countries, with content in their native languages, though many ethnic media outlets are in fact operated by transnational organizations or even by mainstream corporations, while others are commercial operations, even if they still arguably fulfill a role as an ethnic/racial representative for their respective communities within the larger media landscape.
While ethnic media might provide a useful category of analysis, it can sometimes, as Shi points out, run the risk of homogenizing all members of a certain given ethnic group into a single overarching descriptive category. When one uses such categories, power relations, differences in political views, questions of gender, and many other key issues might become erased. For example, take the rise of the African American press in the United States. Some publishers, such as the California Eagle under the leadership of Charlotta Bass
Charlotta Bass
Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass was an American educator, newspaper publisher-editor, and civil rights activist. Bass was probably the first African-American woman to own and operate a newspaper in the United States; she published the California Eagle from 1912 until 1951...
displayed a much more explicitly progressive position than other popular newspapers such as the Chicago Defender.
When using this term, it is useful to think about historical context, internal composition of the group, and possible political or cultural differences between members of the group.
Audiences
Although most of the attention to alternative media has focused on the politics of production and categorization of different kinds of media, there has been growing interest in the audiences of alternative media. Much of this interest originally stemmed from Chris Atton's description of the blurred line between audience and producer, which stood as a tactic for production in the "ghetto sphere." Essentially, media resources have become monopolized by corporate conglomerates, which leaves the public sphere in a permanent "ghetto" condition. In order to overcome such problems, Atton noted that producers of alternative media can rely on the audience to generate content, which comes at little or no cost. Although Atton's description of the audience in this context was a discussion about production, it did shift more attention to the people who read and use alternative media. In 2007, Jennifer Rauch claimed that the interpretive strategies utilized by the audience can determine if a text is alternative or not. In 2009, Michael Boyle and Mike Schmierbach demonstrated how audiences of alternative media are more likely to be more frequently engaged in protest actions than audiences of mainstream news media. Later, Joshua Atkinson explored the performances of alternative media audiences, and how the use of alternative media shaped those performances. Essentially, Atkinson claims that the nature of the audiences use of alternative media (participatory v. passive), as well as their worldview, often shape the performances of resistance against dominant power structures in society.See also
- Alternative media in South AfricaAlternative media in South AfricaSouth 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. In addition, a thriving small press and underground press carried voices that would not...
- Alternative media (U.S. political left)Alternative media (U.S. political left)This is a list of 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 news services*AlterNet*American News Project...
- Alternative media (U.S. political right)Alternative media (U.S. political right)Alternative media in the United States usually refers to internet, talk radio, print, and television journalism and opinions which present a point of view that counters the alleged bias of mainstream media...
- Citizen mediaCitizen mediaThe 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.-Principles of citizen media:...
- Community RadioCommunity radioCommunity radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...
- Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
- DigitalJournal.comDigitalJournal.comDigitalJournal.com is an international news network where thousands of citizen reporters contribute from 140 countries around the world....
- Ethnic mediaEthnic media- Ethnic Media :Ethnic Media is media fashioned with a particular ethnic minority group or ethnic minority community, in mind.Academic Yu Shi tenders an operational definition for ethnic media: “Ethnic media are often regarded as media by and for ethnics in a host country with content in ethnic...
- Jesse MacbethJesse MacbethJesse 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. Transcripts of the video were made in English and Arabic.According to the U.S...
- List of independent television stations in the U.S.
- Mass mediaMass mediaMass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
- Media activismMedia activismMedia activism is activism that uses media and communication technologies for social movement, and/or tries to change policies relating to media and communication ....
- Media democracyMedia democracyMedia democracy is a set of ideas advocating reforming the mass media, strengthening public service broadcasting, and developing and participating in alternative media and citizen journalism. The stated purpose for doing so is to create a mass media system that informs and empowers all members of...
- Media Freedom ProjectMedia Freedom ProjectThe Media Freedom Project is a project of Americans for Tax Reform, dedicated to free market, deregulatory media, technology and telecommunications policies....
- Media justice
- Nexus (magazine)
- OhmyNewsOhmyNewsOhmyNews is a South Korean online newspaper website with the motto "Every Citizen is a Reporter". It was founded by Oh Yeon Ho on February 22, 2000....
- Pete WagnerPete WagnerPete Wagner is an American political cartoonist, activist, author, scholar and caricature artist whose work has been published in over 300 newspapers and other periodicals, and whose cartoons and activist theatrics have been the subject of controversy and frequent media attention.-Early...
- Pirate radioPirate radioPirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
- Pirate televisionPirate televisionA pirate television station is a broadcast television station that operates without a broadcast license. Like its counterpart pirate radio, the term pirate TV lacks a specific universal interpretation...
- Prometheus Radio ProjectPrometheus Radio ProjectThe Prometheus Radio Project is a non-profit advocacy and community organizing group committed to building an inclusive and representative media landscape in the United States and around the world. They are working to create a network of low power community radio stations...
- Public access television
- RINFRINFRINF Alternative News is a daily updated source for under-reported news and current events. Heavy focus is placed on human rights issues and political dissent.- History :...
- Underground pressUnderground pressThe underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
Alternative media scholars
- John DH DowningJohn DH DowningJohn D. H. Downing is a communications scholar who has written extensively on Alternative Media and Social Movements. He is Professor Emeritus of International Communication at the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Southern Illinois University and currently affiliated to the Information...
- Chris AttonChris AttonChristopher Frank Atton is Professor of Media and Culture in the School of Arts and Creative Industries at Edinburgh Napier University...
- Joshua Atkinson
- David Hesmondhalgh
- Åsa WettergrenÅsa WettergrenÅsa Wettergren, born 1969, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Gothenburg. Her research interests include social movements, migration, processes of identification and change in organization and society, and the sociology of emotions.-Notable...
- Jean BurgessJean BurgessJean Burgess is a Senior Research Fellow in the Creative Industries Faculty, and Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. From 2010 Jean is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow , working with...
- Lauren KesslerLauren KesslerLauren Kessler is an American author, as well as Director of the Literary Nonfiction Program and Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon....
- Rodney BensonRodney Benson-Biography:Rodney Benson is associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University...