Beyond ‘Local’, ‘Alternative’ and ‘Community’: Conceptual Considerations About Media on the Margins

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The chapter considers three major approaches to non-mainstream media in order to set down some theoretical markers for the collection as a whole. The scholarly tradition focusing on ‘local’ media and journalism sees its object of study in primarily geographic terms, with a primary interest in commercial newspapers in smaller towns in the Global North. Another tradition is concerned with ‘alternative’ media, defined as being in opposition to the mainstream and prioritizing an explicitly political agenda. A linked but distinct tradition is organized around the term ‘community’ media, defined as being based in and serving an often idealized community. The three approaches are discussed and critiqued, and their particular use in South Africa outlined. With all three shown to have significant weaknesses, the chapter explores the notion of marginality, understood to refer to a media entity’s position in and addressing a group on the margins of social, economic, and political systems that exclude them from access to resources and power. The chapter argues for marginality to be used as a dimension of the three major categorizations in order to obtain clearer understanding of media serving socio-economically disadvantaged groups.

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