This volume examines the rising role that alternative media play in contemporary mainstream political communication. The book focuses on three primary sites where such media have established growing influence in recent years: political parties, mainstream political news, and participatory media that allow for engagement.

Offering one of the most comprehensive assessments of alternative media to date, Beyond Mainstream Media examines the rise of alternative media over the last decade, analysing their changing content and editorial strategies, and exploring why many people go beyond the mainstream media for news and information. Considering the differences in agenda between alternative and mainstream media coverage, Cushion sheds light on why right-wing alternative media have become a more prominent part of national media systems than left-wing sites in the Western World. In doing so, he argues that alternative left-wing media should place less emphasis on attacking professional journalism and focus more on converging into the world of mainstream news to promote their politics. This book draws on over 3,500 articles and 17,000 social media posts produced by alternative media, extensive interviews with editors and contributors, and a survey of over 2,700 media users. It develops a comparative international perspective by explaining how findings and concepts can be applied to understanding much broader issues, such as public distrust in the mainstream media or the influence different media and political systems have on the production of alternative media. Providing both an introduction to and a critical analysis of the state of alternative media today, this book is written in clear, jargon-free language and is recommended reading for advanced students undertaking courses in Alternative Media and Political Journalism.

Scholars of journalism and media studies have illustrated the production of alternative media as a means for activists to generate dissent, while communication scholars have examined activists' performances and image events as challenges to dominant power structures. The approaches of both fields have contributed to academic understanding of social movements in modern society, but until now, their findings have emerged separate from one another. This book brings together both lines of research, and demonstrates the role of alternative media in the performance of resistance against power structures by contemporary activists. Specifically, the book explores the role of alternative media in the establishment of activist networks in local communities; the role of alternative media in the construction of strategies of resistance by networked activists; and the role of interactivity between local and global networks in production of alternative media content. The book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses concerning social movements within the fields of communication, media, and journalism.

This clear and concise text offers a one-stop guide through the complex political, social and economic debates that surround alternative media and provides a fresh and insightful look at the renewed importance of this form of communication.

Contesting Media Power is the most ambitious international collection to date on the worldwide growth of alternative media that are challenging the power concentration in large media corporations. Media scholars and political scientists develop a broad comparative framework for analyzing alternative media in Australia, Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Sweden, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Topics include independent media centers, gay online networks and alternative web discussion forums, feminist film, political journalism and social networks, indigenous communication, and church-sponsored media. This important book will help shape debates on the media's role in current global struggles, such as the anti-globalization movement.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Historically, alternative media have been viewed as fundamental, albeit at times culturally peripheral, forces in social change. In this book, however, Kenix argues that these media do not uniformly subvert the hierarchies of access that are so central to mainstream media - in fact, their journalistic norms and routines have always been based on the professional standards of the mainstream. Kenix goes on to posit the perception of 'mainstream' and 'alternative' as a misconception. She argues that, although alternative media can - and do - construct distinct alternative communications, they have always existed on the same continuum as the mainstream and the two will continue to converge. Through comparative analysis, this book argues that many alternative and mainstream media are merging to create a continuous spectrum rooted in commercial ideology. Indeed, much of what is now considered alternative media actually draws very little from principles of the independent press, whereas many contemporary mainstream media now use communication techniques more commonly associated with media that do not operate for financial gain. This book puts forward a controversial but convincing argument around the relationship between alternative and mainstream media, drawing on examples from the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand to strengthen and develop the central premise.