Blog #9 - Alternative Media

Contrary to the mainstream media, alternative media is not for profit and for the most part, tries to deliver and analyze news in an unbiased way. Since they are not corporate-owned, alternative media has been referred to as the "citizen's media" with a social responsibility to replace objectivity with advocacy. Alternative media is full of large personalities who look to use their agenda-free platform to challenge the status quo and to ask the questions that mainstream media networks would be afraid to ask. Alternative media has a reputation for being radical at times with polarizing personalities who propose radical concepts and policies while also seeming to have their priorities out of line. Social media networks have given alternative media access to a larger audience than ever before and social media consumers enjoy hearing different perspectives and voices as a desire for a marketplace of ideas increases.

Defining alternative media any further is a tough task considering the term alternative media represents any type of media that is not corporate-owned or for profit. Examples of alternative media could quite literally range from a blogger in his parent's basement to a modest studio with a production crew. Alternative media encompasses blogs, social media pages, podcasts, radio shows, YouTube videos, and much more.

These independent companies are often small and understaffed, however, are essential to inspiring social and political action. As Chris Atton, a lecturer and scholar of alternative media, says, the goal of alternative media is "to change towards a more equitable social, cultural and economic whole in which individual is not reduced to an object... but is able to find fulfillment as a total human being".

As a whole, society needs alternative media to contribute to the rapidly-growing marketplace of ideas that social media and technological advancements have created. The corporate-owned mainstream media is biased and that bias depends on who runs the network and the audience they are trying to please. Not looking to ruffle any feathers at the risk of losing viewers and money, mainstream networks stay away from stories or avoid talking about issues in length when that story or issue goes against the perspective of the anchors and the audience. While there are only a limited number of mainstream media networks, there is an abundance of alternative media that can be found almost anywhere from newspapers to social media. Applications like Snapchat and Instagram are expanding from a way to see pictures of friends to a way of gaining information with options to subscribe/follow both mainstream and alternative media networks.

Since there are so many forms of alternative media, it is also a lot more diverse than the mainstream media which seems to be obsessed with hiring former politicians and old white men. Since alternative media is more diverse, it focuses a lot more on political and social issues than the mainstream media and attracts more minorities who look for news from people who share their perspectives or can at least relate to their struggles.

While some alternative media is radical and in that case, no different or worse than mainstream media, it is still important that we have media that is not agenda or profit-driven.