Suchergebnisse

The article draws firstly on theories that question the exclusionary nature of mass communication in terms of the emancipatory potential of 'new media'; of the democratization of communication; or even in terms of advancing alternative forms of communication. By probing specifically into various small-scale, decentralised media projects, issues concerning the social as well as the cultural context of their implementation; their creation, production and dissemination; the employment of new technologies; and, instances of the very mediation process itself, across both the production and reception process, are addressed. From the perspective of a non-essentialist account of such media projects, the paper draws finally on approaches that evaluate these projects on the grounds of their 'lived experience', in terms of their social actors, agents; acknowledging thus an overall framework of understanding the practice of such projects, as instances of the constitution of citizenship.

The present volume makes an attempt to open a critical dialogue on issues raised by alternative political and media practices. Though neither alternative media can be fully addressed as 'conveyors' of political practice, nor alternative political practices do necessarily 'employ' media practices, their 'fusion' sheds light on critical aspects of the dialectic relation between democratic process and communication.

The present study explores the broad alternative media realm, employing the metaphor of media ecology to address the intersection between varieties of activism and different media, and draws on the mediation paradigm to explore the appropriation of digital media by diverse alternative media producers. At the empirical level, the study evaluates the positions and tactics of Greek grassroots media in the age of the social web probing grassroots media producers' discourses and concerns over the employment of digital technologies. It reflects on controversial issues raised in regard to the enhancement and enrichment of the media-locus of resistance in the digital era, and discusses challenges and limitations raised by the employment of corporate social media in the Greek alternative mediascape.

The article explores alternative media sustainability across a wide range of Greek projects. In this regard, it probes into a number of factors related to both the political economy (funding, organization) of these projects and the nature (real/'imaginary', broad reach/niche) of the relationship with their communities/audiences. The findings of the research reveal a dynamic and contradictory field regarding alternative media resilience in terms of the dialectical relationship of idealistic/realistic (on the production, organization level) and puristic/pragmatic (on the communication, reach level) features. The article concludes by highlighting the strategies employed by the most successful projects in terms of sustainability in relation to their positioning along the idealism/realism and purism/pragmatism nexus.