A Field of Their Own. Examining Alternative Media’s Balancing Act Between Independence, Community and Survival

Abstract

ABSTRACT Considering the precarious state of independent news organizations, this article seeks to understand alternative news media’s struggle for survival and success. By acknowledging their distinct habitus and nomos (i.e., independent, community-driven and engaged), we expand the methodological framework of field theory by deliberately positioning these news organizations as a field of their own in comparison to legacy/mainstream media. The analysis is based on in-depth interviews with both editors-in-chief and staff members of five Flemish alternative news media, combined with a document analysis of their mission statements. We conclude by discussing how such an assessment of their dispositions and practices not only helps us rethink alternative news media’s contributing role to society in terms of trust, representation, empowerment and citizenship. It also opens up a discussion about the inequalities of symbolic and economic capital in highly concentrated media markets.