Digital-Native News and the Remaking of Latin American Mainstream and Alternative Journalism explores the rise of independent, digital-native news outlets in Latin America and their role in social change, protest participation, and the refinement of the concept of "alternative" media. Drawing upon a decade of original research, including interviews, surveys, focus groups, and content analyses, this book questions how the emergence of online-native news sites in Latin America is redefining our understanding of what it means to be mainstream and what it means to be alternative. By analyzing a wide range of elements, from business models and audience behaviors to social media use and the role of gender, this text examines how these sites are challenging traditional, hegemonic mainstream news media and its service to political and economic elites. The result is a discerning investigation into the new brand of journalism these sites have innovated. This insightful study will be of interest to journalism, communication, and Latin American scholars, particularly those interested in how technology is moulding journalistic practices and changing conceptions of journalism itself.

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.

This second edition of The Routledge Companion to Digital Journalism Studies offers a truly global and groundbreaking collection of essays addressing the key issues and debates shaping the field of digital journalism studies today. Journalism has arguably faced unprecedented disruption and reconceptualization since the first edition of this Companion was published. Questions over what role journalism and journalists play in society are pervasive, and changes to platforms, products, practices, and audiences are among the forces driving a new research agenda in the field. This newly reorganized second edition addresses developments in technologies, data infrastructures, algorithms, and the businesses behind these technologies, as well as the impact of such developments on the practice of digital journalism. Debates concerning the decline of public trust in journalism, and the blurred distinctions between journalism and other forms of media and communication are also considered. The chapters outline the need for digital competence and literacy within journalism and introduce new methodological approaches, including experimental and arts-based methods, computational methods, and collaborative work. Comprising 54 original essays from distinguished academics across the globe, this book showcases the rich diversity of work that continues to define the field of digital journalism studies and is an essential point of reference for students and researchers alike.

Responding to mounting calls to decenter and decolonize journalism, The Routledge Companion to Journalism in the Global South examines not only the deep-seated challenges associated with the historical imposition of Western journalism standards on constituencies of the Global South but also the opportunities presented to journalists and journalism educators if they choose to partake in international collaboration and education. This collection returns to fundamental questions around the meaning, value, and practices of journalism from alternative methodological, theoretical, and epistemological perspectives. These questions include: What really is journalism? Who gets to, and who is qualified to, define it? What role do ethics play? What are the current trends, challenges, and opportunities for journalism in the Global South? How is news covered, reported, written, and edited in non-Western settings? What can journalism players living and working in industrialized markets learn from their non-Western colleagues and counterparts, and vice versa? Contributors challenge accepted "universal" ethical standards while showing the relevance of customs, traditions, and cultures in defining and shaping local and regional journalism. Showcasing some of the most important research on journalism in the Global South and by journalists based in the Global South, this companion is key reading for anyone researching the principles and practices of journalism from a de-essentialized perspective.

An extensive and inclusive account of the media environments of 45 countries worldwide In Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes, an international team of prominent scholars examines both long-term media systems and fluctuating trends in media usage around the world. Integrating country-specific summaries and cross-cutting studies of geopolitical regions, this interdisciplinary reference work describes key elements in the political, social, demographic, cultural, and economic conditions of media infrastructures and public communication. Enabling the mapping of media landscapes internationally, Media Compass contains up-to-date empirical surveys of individual countries and regions, as well as cross-country comparisons of particular areas of public communication. 45 entries, each guiding readers from a general summary to a more in-depth discussion of a country’s specific media landscape, address formative conditions and circumstances, historical background and development, current issues and challenges, and more. Designed to facilitate quick lookup of individual entries, as well as comparative readings of a country’s position in the wider media environment, Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes is an invaluable addition to libraries and institutions of higher education, and a must-read volume for students, educators, scholars, and practitioners working in communication and media studies, journalism, and media production.

This edited collection brings together journalism scholars from mainland China, Hong Kong, the UK and Australia to address a variety of pressing issues and challenges facing digital journalism in China today. While China shares certain affinities with the digital disruption of media in other settings, its experience and articulation of change is ultimately unique. This volume explores the implications of digital media technologies for journalists’ professional practice, news users’ consumption and engagement with news, as well as the shifting institutional, organizational and financial structures of news media. Drawing on case studies and quantitative and qualitative approaches, contributors address questions concerning: whether China is witnessing ‘disruptive’ or ‘sustainable’ journalism; if, and in what ways, digital technologies may disrupt journalism; and whether Chinese digital journalism converges with or diverges from Western experiences of digital journalism. Digital Journalism in China is an important addition to the literature on digital journalism, comparative media analysis, the Chinese Communist Party’s social media strategies, tabloidization trends, and the conflict between newsroom and classroom in journalism education, and will be of interest to advanced students, scholars, and practitioners alike.

Following recent developments in digital technologies, financial crises, and changes in audience preferences, this book addresses the critical challenges and disruptions facing the profession of journalism: an arguably precarious industry suffering from employment insecurity, individualization, and loss of autonomy. Drawing on research from the Norwegian and Nordic media landscape, Journalism Between Disruption and Resilience elaborates on how boundary struggles between journalism and other forms of content, such as marketing and public relations, have become blurred, while social distinctions within the profession are deepened and exacerbated by downsizing and cutbacks in newsrooms and their journalistic staffs. The impact of these developments on the institutional and democratic role of journalism in society is discussed alongside the tensions between professional autonomy and precarious work. Expanding upon several earlier research studies, grounded in the sociology of professions and freelance work, this book provides a new theoretical framework from which to addressjournalistic precarity and the role of journalism in society. This is an insightful study for advanced students and researchers in the areas of professional journalism, journalism education, and media industries including marketing and public relations.

Considering the interactions between developments in open data and data journalism, Data for Journalism: Between Transparency and Accountability offers an interdisciplinary account of this complex and uncertain relationship in a context of tightening the control over data and weighing transparency against privacy. As data has brought both promise and disruptive changes to societies, the relationship between transparency and accountability has become complicated, and data journalism is practised alongside the contradictory needs of opening up and protecting data. In addition to exploring the benefits of data for journalism, this book addresses the uncertain nature of data and the obstacles preventing data from being fluently accessed and properly used for data reporting. Because of these obstacles, it argues individual data journalists play a decisive role in using data for journalism and facilitating the circulation of data. Frictions in data access, newsrooms’ resources and cultures and data journalists’ skill and data literacy levels determine the degree to which journalism can benefit from data, and these factors potentially exacerbate digital inequalities between newsrooms in different countries and with different resources. As such, the author takes an international perspective, drawing on empirical research and cases from around the world, including countries such as the UK, the US, Germany, Sweden, Australia, India, China and Japan. Introducing a new dimension to the study of developments in journalism and the role of journalism in society, Data for Journalism will be of interest to academics and researchers in the fields of journalism and the sociology of (big and open) data.

This ethnographic study explores how four alternative media projects in El Salvador integrated digital technologies—particularly social media—into their practices, and whether incorporating these technologies affected citizen participation not only in the media production process, but in a broader discursive sphere of civic and political life as well. Summer Harlow investigates the factors that influence the extent to which alternative media producers are able to use digital tools in liberating ways for social change by opening a space for participation in technology (as content producers) and through technology (as engaged citizens). The book advances existing literature with two main contributions: extending our understanding of the digital divide to include inequalities of social media use, and including technology use—whether liberating or not—as a fundamental component of a mestizaje approach to the study of alternative media.

"A provocative, inspiring and challenging intervention in both journalism and media studies.... Alternative Journalism is that rare book that services students as much as scholars. It widens the trajectory of media studies and creates different modes of reading, writing and thinking... It offers an alternative history beyond the tales of great men, great newspapers, great editors and great technologies. It adds value and content to overused and ambiguous words such as "community" and "citizenship" and captures the spark of new information environments." - THE, (Times Higher Education) Alternative Journalism investigates and analyses the diverse forms and genres of journalism that have arisen as challenges to mainstream news coverage. From the radical content of emancipatory media to the dizzying range of citizen journalist blogs and fanzine subcultures, this book charts the historical and cultural practices of this diverse and globalized phenomenon. This exploration goes to the heart of journalism itself, prompting a critical inquiry into the epistemology of news, the professional norms of objectivity, the elite basis of journalism and the hierarchical commerce of news production. In investigating the challenges to media power presented by alternative journalism, Atton addresses not just the issues of politics and empowerment but also the journalism of popular culture and the everyday. The result is essential reading for students of journalism - both mainstream and alternative.