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View Full Version : Is "Alternative Media" the Life Preserver of Capitalist Mental Sewage Media?



oujiQualm
9th March 2009, 06:41
Hi. What I have noticed over the years is just how non ambitious so much of the so called left alternative media is. It never tries to do anything, get more readers etc. (this could be done by organizing internet actions etc.

So much of the so called alternative media seems content with being a refuge from the Corporate Media.

I am 45 so I have noticed a result of this on the Corporate Meida. IT HAS GOTTEN MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH WORSE.

Now one might say who cares. More people are gettint their news from the net blah balh like we are encouraged to say in way that gives no thought to communications.

I say this does matter. Because what the so called alternative press--leaving aside the documented history of left gatekeeping-- cannot do is build a critical mass that is necessary for change.

MORE IMPORATATNLY IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA PREVENTS THE LEFT FROM ACTUALLY GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE BRAIN SEWAGE CORPORATE MEDIA. THIS MATTERS. Yes their viewers are fewer but they are the ones who can make wars and elect democrats who are to the right of Nixon ie black Calvin Coolidges like we have now.

For change to happen the corporate media must have its credibility stripped within the so called public sphere. Now you might say there is no more public sphere. Thats the problem, we still have to fight for it.

Invincible Summer
9th March 2009, 09:31
Could you please explain what you mean by "alternative media?"

oujiQualm
9th March 2009, 13:24
sites that are left liberal or further left that offer many great articles such as Counterpunch, Common Dreams etc. The point is not that these sites are all bad, but rather to focus on their limitations, and also to suggest that these limitations are caused by their reliance on foundation grants, which is kind of duh. But these foundation grants and the way they limit the so called alternative media is rarely discussed.

Another example Democracy Now.

The Idler
9th March 2009, 21:16
The best is ZMag (http://www.zmag.org/) and they rely on "Zsustainers (https://www.zmag.org/zsustainers/signup)" which after reading your post I might just start sustaining.

New Internationalist (http://www.newint.org/) too rely on sales and subscriptions rather than any donations and claims to be the largest left-wing magazine in the UK.