Alternative media
Alternative media are defined most broadly as those media practices falling outside the mainstreams of corporate communication.
Proponents of alternative media often argue that the mainstream media is heavily biased, criticizing their pretended
objectivity as a dissimulation of
class biases. Causes of this bias include the political interests of the owners, government influence or the profit motive. This criticism, paradoxically, springs from observers of all political orientations. The
concentration of media ownership, as well as the concentration of the
publishing industry are other causes of economical
censorship. While sources of alternative media are also frequently highly (and sometimes proudly) biased, the bias tend to be different, hence 'alternative'. Alternative media outlets often engage in
advocacy journalism and frequently promote specific political views, often dissident views (or, again paradoxically, views considered "dissident" from whatever the perceived mainstream; contributors to
Democratic Underground and
Free Republic are diametrically opposed to each other politically, and both are likely to consider themselves dissidents from an oppressive mainstream).
Authors such as
Louis Althusser and
Noam Chomsky have written in detail about the problems of the mainstream press, and their writings have inspired the creation of many alternative press efforts. Many current alternative press sources share values on
copyright with the
open source movement.
For a medium to be considered "alternative", it must possess some kind of counter-hegemonic quality. The counter-hegemony should be represented through at least one of the following parameters:
* Content â€" what is being "said"
* Aesthetical form â€" the way it is being said
* Intention â€" the point of success
* Organizational structure â€" how the media are being run
* Process - the relationship between production and consumption of information
The following is a list of news sources considered to be part of an alternative media, in both print and electronic forms:
*
Information Clearing House [
1]
*
LA Freewaves*
Geeman Media*
Infowars.com [
2]
*
Taking Aim*
World Independent News Group*
American Free Press*
CounterPunch [
3]
*
WorldNetDaily [
4]
*
Democracy Now*
COA News*
Z Magazine [
5]
*
Traditions Magazine*
Earthhope Network*
Adbusters*
Great News Network [
6]
*
Eagle World News*
Indymedia [
7]
*
undercurrents (news) [
8]
*
What Really Happened [
9]
*
Altermedia [
10]
*
Commondreams [
11]
*
The Raw Story [
12]
*
Drudge Report [
13]
*
Drudge Retort [
14]
*
The French Connection*
Haiduts.net [
15]
*
The Common Language Project [
16]
*
CitizenShift [
17]
*
Townhall.com [
18]
*
Frequency The Snowboarder's Journal [
19]
*
Northern Alliance Radio Network*
Larisa Alexandrovna*
Christopher Bollyn*
Matt Drudge*
Joseph Farah*
Lisa Guliani*
Alex Jones*
Jason Leopold*
Michael Collins Piper*
Jeff Rense*
Michael Rivero*
Michael Ruppert*
Ralph Schoenman*
Daryl Bradford Smith *
Victor Thorn*
Hugh Hewitt*
Free press*
Free daily newspapers
*
Alternative press (U.S. political left)*
Alternative press (U.S. political right)*
Underground press*
Alternative weekly*
Advocacy journalism*
Community radio*
Podcasting*
News agency (alternative)*
Alternative media (U.S. political left)*
Alternative media (U.S. political right)*
Environmental journalism*
Criticism of the publishing industry*
Gatekeeper (politics)*
ACTivist Magazine*
Freewaves*
Alternative Press Center*
Columbia Journalism Review, a bimonthly magazine that monitors U.S. media.
*
Committee to Protect Journalists, nonprofit organization that defends the rights of journalists worldwide to report without fear of reprisal.
*
COA News - Independent News Portal*
Eagle World News*
Dissident Voice*
IFEX, monitors attacks on journalists around the world.
*
MANA - the Media Alliance for New Activism*
Konscious TV*
Media Activism*
National Writers Union, a labor union that represents freelance journalists and other writers.
*
Media Helping Media Discussion forum for international media development.
*
The News Standard*
Rabble*
Radical Middle*
RINF: Alternative Media & News*
SchNEWS*
Socialist Worker*
Straight Goods*
Industrial Worker - The Voice of the IWW*
UKWatch*
Underground Action Alliance*
The Common Language Project--Positive Reporting Across Borders[
20]
*
:Category: Alternative weekly newspapers
