Alternative Media vs. Mainstream Media

This past week we have been discussing how video games, mainstream media, and alternative media have affected how we as Americans see war specifically the war on terrorism. Each of these things have seemed to militarize our civil space as Roger Stahl (2006) outlines in his article. Stahl’s (2006) is an interesting read and challenges one’s thinking, but in this blog post I am going to concentrate on John Jordan’s article. Jordan (2007) offered a critical analysis of the discourse surrounding online War new websites during the early stages of the 2003 War in Iraq. As I was reading the article, I was brought back to a few main concepts we have discussed in class before. Jordan (2007) criticized mainstream media for their treatment of alternative media. Alternative media is media that does not have the corporate backing like mainstream media does. It gives a voice to those who are not apart of the ruling ideas of the society. Before we specifically discussed alternative media in relation to social media. Social media can be used for alternative media, but it is also used for much more than that. Jordan showed how the mainstream media discredited the source of these alternative media sites instead of working to discredit the facts and stories. The mainstream media is threatened by these alternative media sites because their jobs are threatened. It makes it seem like it is all about money for the mainstream media which reminded me of the ideas presented in Rich Media, Poor Democracy. This video discussed conglomerates which are the large corporations having control over many smaller corporations under different names . This provides them with an opportunity for cross promotion which is the promotion of the same ideas and the same products in each corporation the larger corporation owns. This is no different for reporting the news on war. These corporations want to have the edge and get their news story out before their competitors. They can use cross promotion to do this. With these points discussed, it makes one consider the news they are receiving. Jordan’s (2007) article sure made me consider how I receive my news. Do profits drive mainstream media sources to be less credible? Are those who use the alternative media sources credible? Do I need a combination of both types of media to see a fuller picture of the news?

What about you: How do you get your news? Do you believe it to be a credible source for news? Why or why not? Are we getting “real” news? How do we get “real” news?