Alternative media

Alternative media break with the conventions of dominant media along one or more of the following lines: content, aesthetic, mode of production, mode of distribution, or relations to audience. These media challenge dominant ideas about media and society, often seeking to raise information and viewpoints ignored by dominant media, represent marginalized or oppressed groups, or create new communities of interest or identity among ordinary people. Alternative media can come in many shapes and forms, including newspapers, radio, television, magazines, movies, Internet, performance, and any other medium of communication. In societies where commercial interests largely control and shape media systems, alternative media tend to be noncommercial projects that address issues and interests systematically excluded from the dominant media, such as those of the poor, ethnic minorities, political minorities, labor groups, GLBTQ-identities, feminist identities, and others. In societies where the state controls media systems, alternative media may include commercial or noncommercial media that challenge existing arrangements. Whether presenting an alternative to state or commercially dominated media systems, alternative media serve to challenge dominant ways of understanding the purposes and possibilities for mediated communication, as well as the values and norms promoted by capitalist or autocratic societies. The term ""alternative"" media is an umbrella term that covers many different subsets of non-mainstream media which emphasize different aspects of alternativeness. These include: independent media, radical media or dissident media, social movement media, ethnic and indigenous media, community media, subcultural media, and avant-garde media. Each of these categories highlights the perceived shortcomings of dominant media and attempts to respond to these shortcomings through their own media.