Fumi Inoue: The primary goal of this thesis is to examine the rise of alternative news outlets in contemporary America and question the roles of media and journalism practices necessary to form a better civil society. Although alternative media are often criticized for being subjective and biased in the elites’ discourse, it has been prominent especially since the beginning of this century that American citizens’ dissatisfaction with the conventional way of reporting carried out by the corporate media is becoming larger. This paper will trace back the history of American alternative and show how alternative media have played significant roles in crucial moments of history, for the oppressed, the marginalized and society as a whole. This is a case study of the United States, a country that provides a rich and unique history of media activism and alternative journalism.

The first chapter explains the concept and history of communication revolution and describes three conditions for communication revolution provided by media studies scholar Robert W. McChesney, offers a theoretical framework of this chapter. It analyzes the trends and characteristics of the new media environment and how the monopolized media industries are eroding journalism practices, which are preparing conditions for the fourth great communication revolution to occur. In the second chapter, history of American alternative media will be introduced in order to provide historical backgrounds of why such dissident media have been of necessity for social change; it covers the press of African Americans, women, working radicals and war resisters. The third chapter examines how and why alternative news outlets operated on the Internet such as Democracy Now and The Real News Network became popular over the last few years, changing the media landscape of contemporary America. In the fourth chapter, the ever-growing media reform movements and grassroots fight for universal access to the Internet in the United Sates will be introduced. The fifth chapter debates questions on objectivity and ideology of corporate media. This thesis concludes that the changing media landscape in the United States is altering the power structure of the whole society, leading us to the better future.

Social Change And Alternative Media: New Media Landscape For Contemporary America