My assignment for the week was to look into an alternative media source and find its differences against a corporate or mainstream news source. What is an alternative medium? It preaches advocacy and is an independent non-profit organization that does not aim to sell audiences to advertisers for revenue–unlike corporate media. Rather, alternative media seek to speak out against social issues by targeting a broad audience.
The alternative medium I chose to follow was Wire Tap, an activist website which aims to create ideas and actions for a new generation. On the site, I found blog posts and articles that covered issues such as youth activism, the environment, our rights and racial justice. One article I found appealing was a piece on how sports activism today is nonexistent amongst our star professional athletes. This article seemed very much written as an opinion and used quotes from various editors of books which covered this issue of sports activism.
Another interesting article I found on the site was in a question and answer format. It was on the topic of fighting poverty with the Green economy, and it discussed the initiative green economy workers and activists are taking to solve the problem of poverty in America. Emily Kersh, an activist, is interviewed on the subject and seems to give yet another opinionated piece to this alternative source. The last of the five articles I read that was interesting was in regard to youth activism in our society. The piece discusses about how the society stops working, capitalism as a whole comes to an end. This article was written by two union directors, another opinionated subject I found very thought provoking.
The corporate/mainstream source I followed was CNN. Unlike Wire Tap, CNN clearly seeks to sell to an elite audience and maximize profits by selling its audience to advertisers as a primary revenue source. All or most of its stories seem to be somewhat factual stories that act as a story teller, giving the readers the facts that they want to hear. Most of the reporters are not at the scenes that they cover because many of the events exist outside of the nation in Iraq and in national legislature. Most of the sources are government sources with statistical facts and quotes.
One thing I noticed different than Wire Tap was that CNN had its content available in several different languages. This could signify that Wire Tap’s audience was perhaps just targeted in the United States, while CNN has a worldwide audience. After closely examining these two different types of media, I am now able to distinguish the characteristics of an alternative medium and its significance in society.
A forecast of alternative media spending over the next four years. (Image courtesy of marketingcharts.com)
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