Alternative hybrid media in Greece: An analysis through the prism of political economy

Abstract

This article explores Greek alternative media, records their hybridity and analyses them under the prism of political economy. Drawing theoretically on researchers who emphasize the elusiveness and heterogeneity of alternative media and examining them on account of their ownership structures, production practices and media content, I propose their conceptualization as a vibrant organism in a constant dialectic relationship with mainstream media. These ‘alternative hybrid media’ may borrow people, ideas and practices from mainstream media, but they do not compromise their values for the pursuit of profit or political power. This article focuses on Efimerida ton Syntakton, the country’s first national cooperative newspaper, which emerged out of a collective of laid-off journalists and constitutes a representative example of the hybridity that characterizes the Greek alternative media ecosystem. Based on interviews with journalists and secondary data, this article aims to point to the defining characteristics of ‘alternative hybrid media’ and generate a deeper insight into the complex area of alternative media.