23 Facts About Alternative media

Alternative media are media sources that differ from established or dominant types of media in terms of their content, production, or distribution.

Sometimes the term independent media is used as a synonym, indicating independence from large media corporations, but this term is used to indicate media enjoying freedom of the press and independence from government control.

In contrast to mainstream mass media, alternative media tend to be "non-commercial projects that advocate the interests of those excluded from the mainstream", for example, the poor, political and ethnic minorities, labor groups, and LGBT identities.

John Downing, for example, defines "radical alternative media" as media "that express an alternative vision to hegemonic policies, priorities, and perspectives".

The first being that the audience of these media must be involved in the creation of what is put out in alternative media.

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One way of understanding alternative media is to consider their role in the process of democratic communication.

The alternative media associated with these counter-public spheres are critical in developing the needs and identity of the group and in challenging the larger dominant public sphere.

Social movement media is how social movements use media, and oftentimes, due to the nature of social movements, that media tends to be an alternative.

An example of how the mainstream Alternative media problematically covers social movements is the Occupy movement, which began with Occupy Wall Street in September 2011.

Second, the mainstream media placed the protesters at fault of any violence while the alternative media focused on the brutality of the police and their violent acts on the peaceful protesters.

Alternative media tactics used by SNCC included establishing a dedicated Communication Section which included a photography arm, its own printing press, published publicity materials, and created an alternative wire press.

Alternative media have frequently been studied as a manifestation of participatory culture, in which citizens do not act as consumers only, but as contributors or producers as well.

Alternative media are created by participatory journalism as citizens play an active role in collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information.

Participatory media approaches consider participation in producing media content as well as in making decisions about media production processes as a defining feature of alternative media.

Individuals learning to produce Alternative media themselves is the step that moves citizens from literacy to participation.

Community Alternative media is often categorized as grassroots, a description that applies to both the financial structure and the process of content creation.

Historically community media has served to provide an alternative political voice.

Across the world forms of community, Alternative media are used to elevate the needs and discourse of a specific space, typically connected by geographical, cultural, social, or economic similarities.

Minority community Alternative media can be both localized and national, serving to disseminate information to a targeted demographic.

Historically, these forms of Alternative media have served a dual purpose, to disseminate information to a community that is traditionally ignored or overlooked by major Alternative media outlets and as a vehicle for political protest or social reform.

Sociologist Yu Shi's exploration of alternative media provides opposing arguments about the role of minority media to both facilitate cultural place-making and hinder community assimilation and acculturation.

An example of alternative media is tactical media, which uses 'hit-and-run' tactics to bring attention to an emerging problem.

Some alternative media can be associated with the political left in the United States, the political right in the United States, and various political positions in the United Kingdom.