Name -: Md Abdullah Khan

Roll No -: DSJ/B2021/E22
Section -: A
Class -: Part 1, Semester I
Teacher -: Babita Mam

WHAT IS ALTERNATIVE MEDIA ?

Let us first try to understand the meaning of the word ‘alternative’. According to
the Oxford English Dictionary alternative (in this context) means available as
another possibility or different from what is usual or traditional. When do we
look for alternatives in our lives? We generally look for alternatives in our lives
when we are dissatisfied with the current option available to us. For example, if
you are disappointed with the performance of your mobile phone; you start looking
for alternative mobile phone or any other alternative arrangement which can
enhance the performance of your mobile phone.
Similarly, alternative media is ‘another possibility to the mainstream media’.
Alternative media can be any medium - newspaper, magazine, newsletter, radio,
TV, films, new media, wall paintings, graffiti, street art which provides an
alternative to the mainstream media. In other words we can say when the
mainstream media creates discontent and dissatisfaction; the audience look for
alternative sources of information (media) which provides them relevant
information and different interpretation. They either become the producer or the
consumer of the alternative media.
In their book “Manufacturing Consent” Herman and Chomsky (1998) have
mentioned the evolution of radical press in first half of the nineteenth century in
Great Britain. “This alternative press was effective in reinforcing class
consciousness; it unified the workers because it fostered an alternative value
system and framework for looking at the world” which encouraged them to
collective action. At one time this radical press became a threat to mainstream
media as well as to the legislature. Alternative media differs in content, production
and distribution from the mainstream media. It should be noted here that
alternative media should not be seen as opposite to the mainstream but considered
as a platform where opinions of all shades and pluralistic views are
accommodated. The alternative media aims to voice different opinions rather
than enunciating only popular or adverse opinion of the mainstream media.
While discussing the concept of ‘gatekeepers’ in previous units you would have
read that gatekeepers in mainstream media have their limitations as well as vested
interests for highlighting, down playing or even ignoring particular issue. In
contrast, the alternative media provides freedom to voice different opinions to
surface which are rejected or downplayed by mainstream media.

Carpentier, Lie and Servaes identify the following characteristics of alternative

media with reference to mainstream media:
• Small scale and oriented towards specific communities, possibly
disadvantaged groups, respecting their diversity;
• Independent of state and market;
• Horizontally structured, allowing for the facilitation of audience access
and participation within the frame of democratisation and multiplicity;
• Carriers of non-dominant discourses and representations, stressing the
importance of self representation.
They further advocate a rhizomatic view of community/ alternative media as it
tends to cut across borders and build linkages and connections among civil society,
other community media, the state and the market, to serve the interest of the
community they serve without losing their identity and diminishing the rigidities
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and certainties of public and commercial media organisations and highlighting
Alternative Media
the fluidity and contingency of community media organisations.

In the light of above discussion, we may define alternative media as “a smallscale,

independent, grassroot media which encourage alternative discourse to
highlight the marginalised section of society.” It is people’s media which is run
largely by community for the benefit of their own community. Thus, alternative
media is by the people, for the people, and of the people.

In this section, we shall look at some alternative media forms in India such as
folk media, street theatre, small newspapers, community video and radio among
others.

Folk Media
Folk media is considered to be the most important alternative media in the rural
India. It is the oldest form of entertainment and information in our country. Folk
media took its shape and form as per the culture of a region. For instance, Nautanki
from UP, Bhavai of Gujarat, Tamasha of Maharashtra, Jatra from West Bengal,
Rajasthan’s famous Puppetry show, Ramleela and Rasleela are performed in
various states. In modern India in various cities and colleges Nukkad Natak or
Street Play became prominent folk medium to reach out to people with social
messages.

Small-Scale Newspapers
Initially, alternative media in India was largely limited to the small newspapers
and magazines circulated by some radical groups. Khabar Lahariya is one such
newspaper started by a Delhi based NGO -”Nirantar” in 2002. It is an eight page
weekly publication from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar written in multiple local dialects
and it covers the functioning of panchayats, government, schools, hospitals, social
issues, civil issues in the region. Women from the marginalised sections of society
with little or no formal education are provided training to report, edit, design,
illustrate, and take photographs for the newspaper. They even distribute newspaper
via small shops, teas stalls and block headquarters. According to
khabarlahariya.org “it has 40 members, Khabar Lahariya team sells 6000 copies
across 600 villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to a readership of 80,000 per
week. Khabar Lahariya began as the only Bundeli newspaper in India and now
has editions in Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Hindustani and Bajjika”.

Community Video
On similar lines, in 2007 Appan Samachar, an all-women community news
channel was started by Mr. Santosh Sarang in Ramlila Gachi, Muzafarpur, Bihar.
The village girls were trained to undertake various activities related to news
production on their own. The 25-minute news capsule was exhibited in haats
using projector. Urvashi Butalia (1993) highlighted the contribution of Cendit –
a Delhi Based group and Self-employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a
woman’s group based in Ahmedabad.

Community Radio
All India Radio has a wide network of radio stations connecting the urban and
rural parts of the country. Being a public service broadcaster it incorporates
regional and people-centric programming. While private radio stations are entirely
devoted to entertainment. Community Radio Stations (CRS) fill this gap created
by public and private radio stations and emerge as an effective alternative
broadcast medium and as the name suggests, the CRS serve a certain community.
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CRS operate in an area of 5-10 km radius and aim to function for the betterment
Alternative Media
of the society by democratising information.

Independent News Websites Alternative Media

New Media as alternative media has recorded significant growth in the past
decade. The reason behind this is low fixed cost involved in venturing in this
media. It has lowered the entry barrier for the young entrepreneurs to start their
own media shops. Moreover, it is the convergent point of all the media as it
amalgamates print (text, pictures), radio (audio) and TV (video) into one which
makes it more interactive.

Social Media as Alternative Media

Social media has provided platform to individual citizens to participate in
contemporary debates and discussions. People now also rely on Twitter for
breaking news than the news channels. To them, Twitter is the place where one
gets different opinion that may not find a place in dominant mainstream media.
Half a decade ago many important, controversial stories would have been buried
by the mainstream media but now with the power of social media it is not easy to
suppress information.
Social media gives platform to the citizen to become a producer through their
blogs, tweets, status updates, articles etc. Earlier it was difficult to think of owning
one’s own newspaper or television channel because of heavy fixed costs involved.
But now the new media and especially social media have made it easier for the
young journalists to become entrepreneurs.
You may ask the questions - how many people have access to social media? Is it
still not an urban and elite-centric media? How many times has any rural centric
issue become the most debatable issue on social media? Has it become a
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Media and Contemporary
promotional tool lately? All these questions are relevant and at times social
media does end up being a promotional tool rather than being a platform for
discussion and debates. The credibility and authenticity of the content on the
social media websites is also under question. At times, information uploaded in
haste leads to serious consequences. There is a need’ to cross check the facts
before completely believing them. Even if an individual uploads something on
social media it is very important for the producer to be socially responsible and
sensitive.
Egyptian Revolution is said to be one of the mass movement triggered by social
media. In 2011, in Egypt, the socio-political-economic condition was extremely
depressing that general masses with the help of social media shook the government
in power. The mainstream media of Egypt was under the state control. People
chose to voice their dissent through social media; Twitter and Facebook were
used rigorously to organise mass agitations and demonstrations against the
government at Tahrir Square which resulted in the resignation by Hosini Mubarak
from presidency and the powers were transferred to the Armed forces of Egypt.
Later, the Supreme Court convicted him to life imprisonment for the failure to
stop killings during the first six days of Egyptian revolution-2011.
Closer home, Anna Movement of 2011 or India Against Corruption (IAC),
is credited to be one mass movement which was initially engineered by the social
media of India later joined by the mainstream media and set the agenda for coming
months. In December, 2012 the infamous Delhi gang rape in a bus led to media
uproar and social media again became a tool to unite people for Nirbhaya
Movement. This had pressurised the legislature to amend the rape law of the
country. Yet another example of social media phenomena was the support to
Jallikattu in January, 2017 in Tamil Nadu wherein numerous Tamilian supporters
gathered at famous Marina Beach in Chennai to lend their support to save their
tradition and culture. Jallikattu is a bull taming sport held during Pongal, it was
banned by the Supreme Court. Large share of this movement goes to social media
and mobile messaging applications.
FUTURE OF ALTERNATIVE MEDIA

The future of alternative media depends upon on each one of us - users, journalists
as well as media channels. It needs to be analysed whether journalism is aimed
to serve the society and people through journalistic writings or the interests of
corporate houses. P. Sainath says that he will participate in the mainstream media
and raise pertinent issues as he does not want to make it easier for the corporate
and will also continue his support for alternative media. It is important for the
journalists to understand the roles and objectives of media and focus on the
developmental and human rights issues.
Apart from the duty of journalists the future of alternative media also lies in
future communicating mediums. In last one decade the new media has totally
changed the way we communicate. Now not only journalists but the common
person has also got an imperative tool to voice their dissent. As discussed in the
previous section, New media has given very affordable medium like websites,
blogs, micro blogs, social networking sites which can function even without the
support of advertising. The future of alternative media lies in the way new media
is used by the netizens and how the course of technology changes from here.
With pocket internet and ipads people are now using web like never before though
it is still accessed by the urban class and there is a strong need to reach out to the
rural population.
One such example is of CGNetSwara founded in 2008 which uses technology
wisely and has emerged as an important alternative medium of communication.
CGNet stands for Central Gondwana Net, and swara means “voice” in Sanskrit.
According to its website- “it is a voice-based portal, freely accessible via mobile
phone that allows anyone to report and listen to stories of local interest. Reported
stories are moderated by journalists and become available for playback online as
well as over the phone”. CGNetSwara discusses the issues related to the tribal
community in Central Gondwana region which is neglected by the mainstream
media.
According to a report in livemint.com “The portal comprises four components:
callers, who give missed calls to the portal phone number to either report or
listen to news; a server that returns the call and collects and stories the audio
bytes; moderators, who publish the byte on the website; and website visitors,
who can be either journalists from the mainstream media who want to cover a
certain story, non-governmental organisations that want to extend support, urban
activists who follow reported stories, or local authorities who want to address
grievances”. The impact of this alternative medium is also visible at grassroot
level; many of the caller problems are resolved as administration is forced to
look into the matter, once it is highlighted by the citizens.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
Herman and Chomsky (1997) have compared mainstream media to elite media,
“sometimes called the agenda-setting media because they are the ones with the
big resources, they set the framework in which everyone else operates”. They
emphasised the five filters of propaganda model which have trapped the media
professionals so much that no one is able to see the biasness in the reports.
These filters are:
• The ownership pattern: who owns media, its size, type of ownership, wealth
involved, and profit making;
• Dependency of mainstream media on the advertising revenue;
• Relying on information provided by government, business and expert by
mainstream media (at times funded and approved by them);
• Flak and enforcers; and
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Media and Contemporary
Issues-II
• Anti-communism as control mechanism.
The ownership pattern of mainstream media plays crucial role in defining its
content which serve the interest of dominant ideology of the system. The
mainstream media is big media and demand huge resources which corporate
houses are best placed to cater. Generally, corporate houses run mainstream media
but there are some exceptions in our country where mainstream media is controlled
by families and politician and political parties too. The mainstream media runs
on a business model and the latest trends reflect a growing tendency to maximise
the profit. With the intervention of corporate culture news has been turned into a
commodity, which like any other product in market needs to be marketed,
packaged and presented in scintillating way to the audience. This commodification
of news is largely centred around the personal views of the prime time television
news anchors. This trend has further eroded mainstream media’s role to express
alternative views and dissent voices.
Senior journalist, P. Sainath argues that “it depends on what the media presume
as their social role. Today for instance, the media see their role as a representation
of the corporate world as it believes in its ideology. In a different time, in a
different period, Indian journalism was a child of the freedom struggle”. He also
points out that “increasingly the media now function as stenographers to the
powerful”. According to him the Indian media is politically free but they are
hemmed in the profit making and still ruled by the elite ideologies.
Scholars working in the area lay stress not only on the alternative media content
but also on the alternative corporate structure or an alternative business model
which supports the objective of alternative media and does not dilute the content
and information. They argue that the business model should not be profit-centric
but focused on social change and development.
Thus it can be argued that mainstream media stands for status quo while alternative
media roots for change. When the mainstream media fails to perform its
responsibilities, a vacuum is created in the society wherein people long for
authentic information without prejudices of the media house. The alternative
media aims to address the information needs of audience and provide them
information reflecting alternative opinion and perspectives.

LET US SUM UP

In this unit we defined the term alternative media “as a small-scale, independent,
grass root media which encourage alternative discourse to highlight the issues
concerning the marginalised sections”. We examined different forms of alternative
media available at the grassroots level for addressing the information needs of
people who do not have access to mainstream media or are unable to relate with
it. We also looked at some new media platforms such as merinews.com,
khabarlahriya.org, cgnetswara.org and social media platforms such as: Twitter
and Facebook which give outlet to different point of views.
From the discussion a strong need for alternative media was traced to give impetus
to grassroots journalism and highlight the issues of the marginalised sections.
For facilitating development and aiming to be a pluralistic society; it is imperative
that more such platforms are introduced. The mainstream media should also
focus on such issues and resist the pressures of corporate houses, political parties
and think beyond TRPs and advertisements. We need to find ways to marry
technology with content generation and distribution so that the alternative media
reaches out to a wider audience and becomes relevant and remains independent.
More liberal and social thinkers are required to take the baton of alternative
media forward.