Alternative media are media (newspapers, radio,
television, movies, Internet, etc.) which are alternatives to the
business or
government-owned mass media. Proponents of alternative media argue
that the mainstream media are
biased. 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, hence these media provide an
"alternative" viewpoint. 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".
Propaganda model
Edward S. Herman 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. Authors such as
Louis Althusser have also written in
detail about the problems of the mainstream press, and their
writings have inspired the creation of many alternative press
efforts. 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.
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 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."
See also
References
- Chomsky, Understanding Power
External links