Are There Still Alternatives? Relationships Between Alternative Media and Mainstream Media in a Converged Environment

Abstract

AbstractMedia scholars and non‐scholars alike have long sought to discern and describe the differences between alternative media and mainstream media — a task that became harder in the digital age, as online communications blurred boundaries. This essay examines how theorists and researchers have attempted to clarify the term ‘alternative media’ and to explain why this category remains relevant in a networked society. Academics largely reject the alternative–mainstream dichotomy and view these media on a continuum, featuring many hybrids and few pure instances. While differences between the two forms are less apparent in liberal democracies than in authoritarian regimes, alternative media persist in being less commercial, producing more critical content and being more committed to social change than their mainstream counterparts. In a converged context, the idea of ‘alternative media’ with a dialectical, interdependent relationship to the mainstream remains important to many producers, users and scholars.