Alternative Media 1

1Understanding Alternative Media and its rise in Kashmir

Introduction

The term Media Evolution as plural of ‘medium’ dates back to some fifty years. The

media in established sense, usually refers to ‘communication media’ and the institutions

and organisations in which we people work (the press, cinema, broadcasting, publishing,

and so on) and the cultural and material products of those institutions which include the

forms and sub forms of news, road movies, soap operas which take the material forms of

newspapers, paperback books, films tapes, films and, tapes, discs.

The corporatisation of media houses and manipulative control of media by few corporate

companies known as elite media in which control of information is in hands of few, and

domination of information by some developed countries usually is related to mainstream

media.

Evolution of Mainstream Media:

Mainstream Media, if evolved, theoretically gives an idea of Media which is the

main outlet of information globally. A mainstream media institution (public or private)

most often aims to maximize profit or sells an elite audience to advertisers for its main

source of revenue. It is virtually always structured in accord with and to help reinforce

society’s defining hierarchical social relationships, and is generally controlled by and

controlling of other major social institutions, particularly corporations.

Mainstream media can be found in almost every social and private setting within the

developed world; the outlets are found on television, radio, online and in newspapers and

other publications. They include TV networks like ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as national

news channels like CNN and Fox News, BBC, Al Jazeera. They also include websites like

MSNBC and large newspapers like The New York Times and USA Today, Dawn and Times

of India.

Mainstream media sources are usually easy to find and reaches large audiences, it is

a media which governs the information and becomes sole tutelage as well as hegemony to

dissemination of information.


It helps in proliferation and control of information in hands of a few elite, global

stake holders in media. The emergence of a corporate world in post 1980’s, The Ted

Turner(CNN), Rupert Murdoch (Fox) and Michael Eisner (Disney) have led the way in

developing multinational communication corporations.

‘It is basically a monopoly of information of some media build ups say for e.g.

BBC and its regional presence catering to regions BBC for subcontinent. Six

media Conglomerates dominates the global market. These six Parent firms include

General Electric, Viacom, Disney, Bertelsmann, AOL Time Warner and recently

closed News Corporation

The information flow is controlled by these some corporate media houses. Of the

nine giants that now dominate the media universe, all but General Electric have extensively

conglomerated within the media, and are important in both producing content and

distributing it. ‘Four of them Disney, AOL Time Warner, Viacom, and News Corporation-

produce movies, books, magazines, newspapers, TV programs, music, videos ,toys, and

theme parks, among other things; and they have extensive distribution facilities via

broadcasting and cable ownership, retail stores, and movie-theatre chains. They also

provide news and occasional investigative reports and documentaries that address political

issues, but the leaders of these pop cultural behemoths are mainly interested in

entertainment, which produces large audiences with shows like ABC TV's -who wants to Be

a Millionaire and CBS-TV's Survivor, or with movies like Disney's Lion King that also

make possible the cross-selling "synergies” that are a focal point of their attention and

resources .Important branches of the media such as movies and books have had substantial

global markets for many years, but only in the past two decades has a global media system

come into being that is having major effects on national media systems, culture, and

politics. It has been fuelled by the globalisation of business more generally, the associated

rapid growth of global advertising, and improved communications technology that has

facilitated cross border operations and control. It has also been helped along by government

policy and the consolidation’.1


(Understanding the terms of Public Sphere, New media in relation to Alternative

Media)

With rise of media conglomerates and also with growth of internet, the terminology

used in media has changed. It is believed by media scholars as well as critics that internet

has brought a new dimension to media approach as well its applicability in public sphere.

And whole new breed of media has emerged, understanding and even it has evolved a

participation of people in dissemination of information. Medium theory by Harold Innis and

McLuhan in 1960’s evolved a thought of a ‘medium’ emphasising the role of medium

where famous phrase coinage by McLuhan elaborates it all ‘medium is a message ‘and in

current terminology, it is known as New Media. McLuhan’s observations of about media

globalization (the global village) and convergence (the relationships of medium) prophesied

in sixties is a reality now. The media revolution that inspires the contemporary concerns of

new media theory can be found in the investigation of a second electronic media age based

on interactivity. The euphoria for an Internet-led new media age culminated in a range of

texts in the mid 1990s that ranged from the journalistic utopianism of George Gilder,

Nicholas Negroponte, and Howard Rheingold to the more theoretical analysis of Mark

Poster and Sherry Turkle, each of which declared the end of broadcast and the rise of

interactive networks. In Life after Television, Gilder announced the overthrow of the

master-slave architecture of television by networked media in which everyone’s able to be a

broadcaster and with birth of internet, it has made the possibility digitations; where

marriage of mediums became possible for e.g. ‘The internet challenge to television’ book

by Bruce had prophesied,

‘Through digitalization, the Internet will be all, it shall be television, telephone, and

computers will converge on the Internet’.

And not only, that in contemporary era with accessibility of Internet, ease to Internet

on mobiles and new gadgets further evolved the new media and its understanding in present

times. New media evolution gave an approach of topsy-turvy to all dominance of

information in fewer hands especially, who own media outflow in form of television, print

or radio.


The digitization of Internet and convergence of mediums for say, on single domain

have completely changed the things we knew about media. It also gave birth to social

networking sites for e.g. Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype and so on. They have

totally revamped our understanding how we imagined media and its flow and source.

Public sphere:

Historically, defined as an area or space where individuals come together, interact,

discuss and indentify the societal, political issues and find ways and try to come on terms

with each other. The public sphere grants everyone equal rights of access and participation.

The public sphere debates freely without any censorship or fear of reprisals. Above all the

emphasis is on citizens.

Public sphere in relation with media, post –enlightenment era, was media to be

associated with forth estate. Where media had to question, or formulate understandings of

actions of state. And with Internet, the idealised nature of public sphere has become

probability. The pioneer of Public sphere, Jirgen Habermas, was critical about mass media,

believing it would deride, or a play role in dissolution of a healthy public sphere by

replacing a discourse of critical reason with entertainment and spectacle. With Internet rise,

a utopia of public sphere, the internet, was a communication system that demanded not

channel-flicking passivity but active engagement and dialogue. However, the Herman-

Chomsky views public space to be “shrinking” irrespective, of internet and space it has

provided. "The displacement of a political public sphere by a depoliticized consumer

culture’’ and it is market and advertisement which over take serious talking. Though, term

International ‘Public Sphere’ has became a possibility with roots back to 1970’s when

earlier debates about New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) came to

fore. It aimed at ending hegemony and domination by few organisations, and specifically

four international news agencies -- Associated Press (AP) United Press International (UPI)

based in United States, Britain’s Reuters and Agence France Presse (AFP). The Proponents

of NWICO argued about completely ignoring the voices of South. Only, concerned with


news of wars famines or other man-made disasters and hence, created and reproduced the

stereotypes of south which were transmitted not just to audiences in the north but also to the

south as well. And with Globalisation factor, Internet has evolved the term “International

Public Sphere”. The Evolution of Social media has further provided space for more

participation of people and assert their views, opinions.

( Review of Literature )

Alternative media is generally considered to be any type of media that is not under

the control of a business operation or syndicate, or a government agency. This form of

media may involve traditional outlets such as newspapers and magazines, or radio,

television, and movies. Alternative media may also involve the newer media outlets of web

sites, e-books and e-magazines, streamed audio and video, or other media outlets that are

found online.

From the beginning of last century, many critical theorists have ranging from the

Frankfurt to the critical economic tradition have criticised the capitalist mass media

system and need was felt to incorporate a alternate media to counter one sided flow of

Information.

An alternative media institution (to the extent possible given its circumstances)

doesn’t try to maximize profits, doesn’t primarily sell audience to advertisers for revenues

(and so seeks broad and non-elite audience), is structured to subvert society’s defining

hierarchical social relationships, and is structurally profoundly different from and as

independent of other major social institutions, particularly corporations, as it can be.

As an unnamed participant in a seminar led by Noam Chomsky put it: ‘by

alternative I'm referring to media that are or could be citizen controlled as opposed to state-

or corporate controlled' (quoted in Achbar,1994: 197) .2

‘In the past decade or so there has been a massive explosion of ‘alternative media’

activity. Facilitated by the spread of the Internet and other digital technologies, and

accelerated by global protest movements, more people’s lives than ever before have been

touched by various forms of media resistance – as readers, audiences and producers. If you

have blogged, v logged, or mob logged; read a fanzine of a new band – online or in print;

admired a piece of colourful graffiti on a grim urban wall or subway train; taken a picture


on your mobile at a demonstration or street event and sent it to friends; been interviewed on

a student radio station; or contributed to a student newspaper, then you have had an

encounter of some kind with ‘alternative media’. 3

Chris Atton uses the term ‘alternative media’ to mean ‘a range of media

projects ,interventions and networks that work against, or seek to develop different forms

of, the dominant, expected (and broadly accepted) ways of “doing” media’.4

‘An alternative media institution sees itself as part of a project to establish new ways

of organizing media and social activity and it is committed to furthering these as a whole,

and not just its own preservation’.5

Alternative media, such as current affairs or news blogs, have grown exponentially

over the last thirty years. Much of this astronomical rise is due to the expansion of the

Internet.

The Internet has allowed for a much wider range of opinions and facts to be seen

and heard. This range obviously includes positions that have been traditionally outside of

mainstream media. Alternative media are often created in “explicit opposition”6 to

mainstream media. Alternative media, in fact, can be defined by their level of subversion

from the mainstream.7

This subversion is rooted in a strong desire for societal change from the status quo

perpetuated by mainstream media. When one considers communication as “the creative

making of a social order” (Hamilton, 2001)8 then the importance of alternative media is

clear. Social relations are created, confirmed and exercised within communication

processes.

Alternative media follows a different discourse than a mainstream media as Dennis

McQuail rightly points;

‘We are now speaking of a version of relationships yet another step further from the

notion of dominant media, in which people using small-scale media prevail and large media

institutions and undifferentiated content can no longer be found’. (McQuail, 1987: 88)9


Alternative media works on a different module in comparison to the dominant know

form of media i.e. Mainstream. The range, number and diversity of alternative media in all

its forms (printed and electronic) and perspectives (single-person, large-scale working class

newspapers, radical community newspapers, magazines of sexual politics, anarchists)

suggest the theory of liberal pluralism pushed to its limits. A model of the media where

‘people using small-scale media prevail’ need not be the product of idealism or entail the

overthrow of large-scale media; we may find spaces in which small-scale media already

prevail.4

Table 1: Potential dimensions of traditional and critical media

Dimension Capitalist mass media Alternative media

Journalistic Production Elite Journalism Citizens’ Journalism

Media Product Structures Ideological form and content Critical Form and content

Organizational media Structure

Hierarchical media organizations

Grassroots media organizations

Distribution structures Marketing and public relations Alternative distribution

Reception practices Manipulative reception Critical reception

(Alternative media as critical media, European Journal of social theory-2010, Christian

Fuchs)

Other basic varied points which differentiate an Alternate media to mainstream are:

Present-day mainstream media are usually considered to be:

• Large-scale and geared towards large, homogeneous (segments of) audiences;

• State-owned organizations or commercial companies;


• Vertically (or hierarchically) structured organizations staffed by professionals;

• Carriers of dominant discourses and representations.

Alternative media can take one or more opposite positions on these matters:

• Small-scale and oriented towards specific communities, possibly disadvantaged groups, respecting their diversity;

• Independent of state and market;

• Horizontally (or non-hierarchically) structured, allowing for the facilitation of audience access and participation within the frame of democratization and multiplicity;

• Carriers of non-dominant (possibly counter-hegemonic) discourses and representations, stressing the importance of self-representation.

Theoretical Frame work of Alternative Media:Alternative media usually follows a Marxist-inspired analysis of modern media which are identified as:

-Political-Economic theory

-Critical Theory (The Frankfurt School)

-Theory of Media hegemony

-Gramscian notion of counter Hegemony

Political -Economic Theory: The theory emphasis is on economic structure rather than ideologue or ideological content of media. It asserts dependence of ideology on economic base, from this point of view; the media institution has to be considered as part of economic system though with close links to the political system.

Critical theory (The Frankfurt School): Critical theory asserts the dependency of the person and the class on the definition of images and terms of debate, common to the system as a whole. The emphasis that the school placed on the powerful mechanism of media for the containment of the change as survived links with hegemonic approach. The affinity of general trust and contemporaneity with mass society theory should also be notice. They combine media centred view with one of class domination. However, they do not neglect social and material forms and their general view of media power is one which emphasizes conservation of the existing order rather than change.


Theory Media hegemony: This theory’s attention from economic ideological form to ideological causes of the survival of capitalism has raised priority of mass media amongst other ideological state apparatus. Ideology, in the form distorted definition of reality and picture of class relationships or in words of Alhusser (1971),

‘the imaginary relationships of individuals to their real condition of existence’ , is not dominant in the sense of being imposed by force by ruling classes but is a pervasive and deliberate cultural influence which serves to interpret experience of reality on a covet but consistent manner.

-Gramscian notion of counter Hegemony: This theory is lot in sync with critical theory, where the Gramsci claims that intellectuals create both, hegemony and counter hegemony. He argues that there is’ no organisation without intellectuals’ for to be without them is to be without ‘the theoretical aspect of the theory-practice nexus essential to all effective organisations. While, Counter hegemony theory aims at more of Marxist belief of challenging the hegemony of capitalistic dominance in all sphere. (Reference for this is of mcquail book on theories)

History and growth of Alternative Media:

Alternative Media has always been parallel to Mainstream media throughout

history, though every time it is surpassed or placed in subversive form of medium. The

history of alternative media is as old as the media itself. For every ever state owned or

popular account of something, there almost always was a dissenting view. In the West,

Johann Gutenberg’s printing press was seen to challenge the established system in that it

provided the common person access to information—the Bible—previously only available

to the clergy. The first newspapers in European empowered new business classes with

information previously only available to the hereditary aristocracy. In response to the often

radical nature of alternative media, those already in power reacted by curbing the other

information source’s power in some way. In the early to mid-nineteenth century, English

radical papers challenged the status quo on topics as diverse as religion to human rights.

The government reacted via a variety of methods from taxing paper to requiring licenses to


publish (Waltz, 2005)11 However this hurt all papers—including those written for elite

audiences—and led to a counter-reaction pushing for freedom of the press. Eventually, this

right was achieved—lowering operating costs—while advertisers who sought respectability

and more affluent audiences thronged to elite papers—increasing revenue; coupled with

tactics to appeal to a wider audience—such as gossip columns and crime reports—the

previously elite papers essentially put the radical ones out of business. This new type of

press led to the codification of news production in that it was completely done by

professionals, as opposed to mostly amateurs with a few politically motivated professionals. 11

The Internet is at the forefront of today’s alternative media. It is easy and affordable

to produce something over the Internet; combined with its relatively uncontrolled nature—

even the most stringent government and/or corporate Internet controls can be worked

around by those with computer expertise—and its ability to reach large groups of people

simultaneously and easily, this makes online sources of alternative media extremely

popular. Furthermore, the multimedia nature of the Internet allows for other forms of

alternative media, such as the underground press, radio and television, to transmit via online

sources, such as text documents, podcasts and videos, respectively.

Where Internet access is lacking, alternative forms of media can still be accessed.

As mentioned above, underground press, radio and television are still used in the present

day.

Alternate Media as participatory and Critical Media:

Alternative Media challenges the very notion of mass capitalist forms of media of

production, media structure, content, production and reception, but one can also think of

another use of alternative media that aims at establishing a counter-public sphere by

reporting about topics neglected by capitalist mass media and by criticizing structures of

domination and oppression. Such alternative media need to gain public attention if they

want to be successful in raising awareness and mobilizing for social struggles. At least such

alternative media are dependent on financial resources that often make necessary


commercial financing and restrictions regarding access to media production. Examples for

such a type of media are The New Internationalist, Z Magazine, Rethinking Marxism,

Historical Materialism or Monthly Review. Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1976) has

proposed a politically emancipator use of media that is characterized by ,interactivity

between audiences and creators, collective production and a concern with everyday life and

the ordinary needs of people.4

Defining alternative media as participatory media excludes such oppositional

publications although they provide critical content and contribute to the establishment of a

counter public sphere. Participatory media approaches stress that democratic media

potentials can be realized by opening up access to media production. Ideas about a

participatory organization of the media system can already be found in the work of Bertolt

Brecht, Walter Benjamin and Hans Magnus Enzensberger, who imagined a media system in

which media enable dialogue and communicative exchange and in which every recipient

can also become a producer. Many current approaches on alternative media pick up this

vision of a democratic media system. So, for example, Nick Couldry points out that the

most important task for alternative media is to challenge the highly concentrated media

system and the resulting symbolic power of capitalist Mass media by overcoming ‘‘the

entrenched division of labour (producers of stories vs. consumer of stories”) 12. According

to Couldry, ‘the emancipatory and progressive potential of alternative media lies in opening

up access to media production to a broad public. This would allow challenging the mass

media’s power of naming by confronting the reality constructed by capitalist mass media

with other versions of social reality’. The strong emphasis on media actors that gain media

power by producing alternative media shows the subjective orientation of this approach.

Community media approaches focus on collective actors and the empowerment of

individuals. The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) for

example stresses that community radio ‘‘should not be run for profit but for social gain and

community benefit; it should be owned by and accountable to the community that it seeks

to serve, and it should provide for participation by the community in programme making

and in management”13. Such participatory media approaches consider participation in

processes of media production as well as in management processes as central defining

feature of alternative media. Another important representative of the participatory media

approach is Chris Atton. He argues that alternative media should anticipate the idea of a


society beyond capitalism in the present. In this context he speaks of ‘‘pre figurative

politics”, which in his view cannot be realized primarily on the media content level, but by

alternative, anti-capitalist, and participatory organization practices 4a.

Alternative Media on web (as a counter voice to Mainstream Media):

The history of alternative media on the Internet is brief; after all, the general

availability of the technology itself is barely 20 years old. The Internet is at the forefront of

today’s alternative media. It is easy and affordable to produce something over the Internet;

combined with its relatively uncontrolled nature—even the most stringent government

and/or corporate Internet controls can be worked around by those with computer expertise

—and its ability to reach large groups of people simultaneously and easily, this makes

online sources of alternative media extremely popular. Furthermore, the multimedia nature

of the Internet allows for other forms of alternative media, such as the underground press,

radio and television, to transmit via online sources, such as text documents, podcasts and

videos, respectively.

Alternative Media is more vibrant in dissemination of information and portraying

the voice of common people.Two of the earliest Internet- based media projects were Peace-

Net in the US and Green Net in the UK. Both were founded in 1985 and together they

formed the Association for Progressive Communications, which became the host for other

organisations dedicated to social change. The early 1990s saw the appearance of activist

mailing lists and other email based groups on the Internet such as ACTIVL (general

activism), ACT- UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power mailing list), PROG- PUBS

(progressive campus publications), SAPPHO (lesbian and bi sexual women) and SEAC net

(Student Environmental Action Coalition). The invention of the World Wide Web (WWW)

in 1989 not only widened access to information on the Internet, it also improved the

presentation and downloading of information. Some of the earliest alternative media sites to

take advantage of WWW technology included Enviro Web, the clearing house for all online

environmental information (mainstream and alternative), and Native Net, providing

information on indigenous peoples around the world on other WWW sites, gopher sites,


mailing lists and newsgroups’.4 Earlier examples mainly coincided with the need to give a

space which never received attention in mainstream media.

Over the past decade, numerous websites have sprung up that question these

assumptions. Montreal-based Global Research gets around 125,000 unique visitors a day. It

forwards an anti-globalization agenda. The site attracts a diverse readership, but all believe

one thing: the mainstream media is failing to tell people the truth about how bankers,

corporate oligarchs and governments are working hand in glove to deceive people and strip

them of their rights.

It is the one stop site for people who are concerned about uncovering the truth over 9/11

and the reasons for the west’s endless imperialist wars. It sets out to expose the global

elite’s agenda to create a ‘new world order’, which is partly being done by spraying poisons

into the atmosphere (chemtrails), genetically modifying food, using vaccines or employing

any other number of methods to subjugate us.

In the US, talk show host Alex Jones has a massive following on the internet. Jones

is concerned with how the US government is waging a war against its own population and

is stripping away people’s constitutional rights. In the UK, former TV sports host David

Icke spreads a similar message. As with Jones, Icke is concerned about a secretive

‘illuminati’ of bankers, rich families and various other elites who are actively conspiring to

bring about a ‘new world order’.

From Prison Planet to the 4th Media, the ‘alternative media’ has gone from strength

to strength. One reason for its popularity has been that, since the decline of the Soviet

Union, the US has surged ahead with an agenda for world domination through perpetual

wars. At the same time, increasing surveillance and an erosion of wage levels and

democratic rights in western countries have compelled people to look for answers as to why

everything seems to be going wrong. The economic crisis caused by bankers and the

resultant austerity for the masses has added further fuel to the fire. To some extent, the

boundaries between the traditional left and the radical right have become blurred as fingers

are being pointed towards the machinations and motives of ‘the global elite’, however

defined.14 Another Impact of Alternate Media in India is Kafila 15 where dissent and

curbed voices are given voices. The initiative is different to per say of activists and writers

to put voices and touch issues which go missing or ignored by Mainstream Media.


‘Kafila.org has 22 members; scores of guest contributors; thousands of daily visitors,

20,000 Facebook subscribers, 30,000 email subscribers, and 8000 Twitter followers;

frequent mentions in the mainstream media it set out to challenge; and highlights stories

missed by the ‘big media’. It offers not only a space for critical writing but also a unique

model of voluntary, editor-less, advertisement-free, politically committed journalism with a

zero marketing budget.’

Various other forms usually associated to Alternative Media include:

Community Radio

Alternative Music forms

Alternative video, Television and Film (including short movies, documentaries,

Fiction)

Blogging, Social Networks


Case Studies

Egypt, January 2011.

Egyptians took to the streets in almost every major town and city against the regime

of Hosni Mubarak. This Uprising become so unique for media specially, Social Media;

Alternate peddled the Uprising. Egypt’s revolution is, to a significant extent, the outcome of

the media’s relationship with politics and democracy. Immediately after the Tunisian

Revolution took place in mid December 2010, through to the middle of January 2011,

young Egyptians were joining the "Khaled Said" Facebook group’s call for an uprising

against tyranny, oppression, torture, corruption and injustice. The group was named after a

young Egyptian man who was beaten to death by police in June 2010.That call was echoed

on other Face book groups, on blogs and on Twitter. A number of youth protest movements

embraced the call at an early stage and started to mobilize support throughout the country.

‘The emergence of independent newspapers like the daily El-Masry and El-Youm

in 2004, along with online journalism, has laid the foundation for pluralism. They gave

citizens access to information, argued publicly about core issues of national interest, set the

competitive standards in their field, and took pride in doing watchdog journalism.

Independent newspapers have reflected a kind of transformation in the mechanisms and


processes of journalism which link changes in the media system to major political changes

envisioned for the country’.16

On 25th January 2011 the Egyptian Revolution was born, only 18 days after the

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down. It was the use of social

networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Independent news blog, New papers

helped grow this uprising. However, within year the revolution plummeted after

Mohammad Morsi was sacked in terminology of various ‘Democratic coup’ and violence

which ensued after the coup- the banning of Aljazeera News, Countless alternate websites

banned, and even causalities of many freelancer Photographers and a pogrom against the

supporters of Muslim Brotherhood. Mohammad El-masry in an article ‘Unpacking Anti-

Muslim Muslim Brotherhood Discourse’ explains how Media control, by using the

Propaganda Model argues that,’ effectively crafted and controlled Media messages can turn

otherwise rational people into ‘Hysterical’ War mongers.17 The article validates further

validates how the Western Media further Hijacked the movement and Mainstream media of

Egypt. It was all topsy-turvy reportage and even Muslim Brotherhood owned news channel

was Al-Ikhwan which portrayed alternate form was taken off the air. It again raised

questions of Mainstream Media whose role has been totally absent and coverage inadequate

barring Aljazeera.

Second Iraq War (2002-2003) -Blogs (Alternative Media) countering the mainstream

media

Weblogs, or what is often called the blogosphere, can be deconstructed in a variety

of ways: as alternative ‘citizen’ journalism; as participatory instruments for citizens/

activists to produce their own media content; as websites of opinion; as a social platform to

inform friends and family within everyday contexts; and increasingly as a new marketing

and propaganda tool for elites (Deuze, 2005)18.

In Iraq war mainstream media propagated a war of unilateral proportionality

wherein, it showed considerable fissures, faults and mainstream media practices and


representations are stretched to their limits, and are increasingly showing cracks, fissures

and internal contradictions.

‘The mainstream (news) media’s much-cherished notions of objectivity, balance,

and truthfulness, in particular, are losing much of their taken-for-grantedness; the fog of

war is revealing what they ‘really’ are: always specific constructions of ideal typical

concepts. This process of demystification has two explanations: the enormous stream of

practical problems that mainstream media have to face during wartime, and the

confrontation with another hegemonic level, that is, the ideological model of war, that

becomes inescapable for media organizations and media professionals in times of armed

conflict’. 18

While the alternative Media provide an apt example how it could break the

hegemonic the threshold of Mainstream media. Iraq war was a best example where

Alternate media told another story. Though, Aljazeera or any Structured Mainstream media

outlets can be exception. But in totality, mainstream media failed to to mention the reality.

Some of the well-known blogs which became conspicuous are the ones which revealed

other side of story are:

The blog written by Salam Pax, known as the Baghdad Blogger, is a prime

example of such representations. During and immediately after the

invasion, several newspapers in Europe and the US reprinted excerpts from

Salam Pax’s blog. He subsequently became a biweekly editorial list for The

Guardian newspaper in the UK (McCarthy 2003). His critical perspectives

were published in many other newspapers throughout Europe and the USA.

His blog writings were also published in book form (Salam Pax, 2003).

Salam Pax also produced a series of documentaries for Guardian Films,

using his own footage, and paying tribute to Bob Dylan’s famous video clip

for ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ (1965), complementing voiceovers with

the written word on pan cards, as a kind of sub-text. These contributions

have been bundled on a DVD and were aired on the BBC’s News night.18


US military personnel and their families also began to use blogs to connect

the front with the home front and vice versa, and also (at times) as a platform

to disseminate alternative representations of war, and personal accounts of

how this is being experienced by the soldiers themselves and their families.

These published private experiences again contradict (and implicitly

critique) the mainstream media’s focus on the abstract narration of war that

leaves little space for the concrete narrations of the lives and experiences of

individual soldiers and their focus on expert knowledge and elite

representation. In this sense, these blogs are again alternatives to the

mainstream media’s way of covering war. On the 21st-century battlefield,

the campfire glow comes from a laptop computer, and it’s visible around the

world. (To get an idea of the popularity of blogs with soldiers and their

families, see, for example, http://www.military.com/blogs or

http://www.milblogging.com/, which provides a gateway to a diversity of

military related weblogs. And blogs carrying distinct counter-hegemonic

messages and voices are: Families Against the War

(http://www.mfaw.org.uk/), Military Families Speak Out

(http://www.mfso.org/) and Iraq Veterans Against the War

(http://www.ivaw.net/).

Abu Gharib prison Photos in 2004 and how mainstream media demonstrated

the pictures and made it an example of Global spectacle to obtain Popularity

across globe. The public ness generated by the mainstream media also

changed the nature of the Abu Ghraib pictures from trophies to legal

evidence. Sontag’s observation that ‘the possibility of being affected morally

by photographs’ is determined by ‘the existence of a relevant political

consciousness’ (Sontag 1973: 19) is highly relevant here. As the torturers

transcended the cultural norms of warfare, taking the dehumanization of the

enemy to the extreme and, moreover, deriving pleasure from it, they became

a threat to the articulation of the American self as ‘good’. In order to

maintain its hegemony, the model that constructed the Iraqi soldiers as evil

and the American soldiers as good had to be defended. This was done by


defining these soldiers as ‘bad apples’ and pushing them outside the

American hegemony. (A good example in this regard is The Memory Hole

(http://www.thememoryhole.org/), dedicated to archiving sensitive material

that is in danger of disappearing from the public sphere. *

Alternative Media and WikiLeaks

‘WikiLeaks is a non-commercial and non-profit Internet whistle blowing platform

that has been online since 2006. It was founded by Julian Assange and is funded by online

donations. Whistleblowers can upload documents that are intended to make misbehaviour

and crimes of governments and corporations transparent – that is, visible in the public.

Documents can be uploaded anonymously by making use of an online submission form.

WikiLeaks’ main servers are based in Sweden.’19

The global release of 250,000 US Embassy diplomatic cables to selected media sites

worldwide through the WikiLeaks website, was arguably the major global media event of

2010. As well as the implications of the content of the cables for international politics and

diplomacy, the actions of WikiLeaks and its controversial editor-in-chief, the Australian

Julian Assange, bring together a range of arguments about how the media, news and

journalism are being transformed in the 21st century. The WikiLeaks evolved a different

sort of critical media and public sphere even terminology it was a Whistle blower as well,

something which closely associates with Alternate Media. As rightly placed by Slavoj

Žižek, ‘There has been, from the outset, something about its activities that goes way beyond

liberal conceptions of the free flow of information. […] The aim of the WikiLeaks

revelations was not just to embarrass those in power but to lead us to mobilise ourselves to

http://www.thememoryhole.org/


bring about a different functioning of power that might reach beyond the limits of

representative democracy. […] This is precisely our situation today: we face the shameless

cynicism of a global order whose agents only imagine that they believe in their ideas of

democracy, human rights and so on. Through actions like the WikiLeaks disclosures, the

shame – our shame for tolerating such power over us – is made more shameful by being

publicized”.20

WikiLeaks can be seen as an alternative media project: it tries to provide

information that uncovers the misuse of power by powerful actors; it is an Internet-based

medium that enables critiques of power structures. It is however, thus far only to a limited

extent a critical project because it seems to aim at reforming and not abolishing structures

of exploitation and domination, underestimating the exploitative character of corporate

power. It therefore falls short of aiming at the categorical imperative of criticism to help

overthrow all relations that alienate them from their human essence by exploiting and

oppressing them. WikiLeaks has however a potential to become not only an alternative

medium that watches power abuse, but a critical medium that helps and aims at overcoming

structures of domination. This requires it to overcome its liberal bias by changing its self-

understanding and to embrace more engagement in the practice of corporate watching

currently subordinated to government watching. **


Overview of Conflict in Kashmir:

Kashmir dispute is a 66 year old, between two South Asian Nuclear powers of India

and Pakistan. Since the first war in 1948 over Kashmir, the region is disturbed between

India and Pakistan while territory under India is known as Indian administered Kashmir

(comprising of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh) while latter as Pakistan administered

Kashmir also known as Azad Kashmir. India and Pakistan have fought three wars over

Kashmir, yet Kashmir issue remains unsolved. Ever since 1947, the international

community has watched the situation in Jammu and Kashmir with foreboding, lest the

conflict escalate into another war. The contribution which it has been able to make has,

however, been limited. After the UN resolutions in 1948 and 1949 were passed, successive

governments in India have attempted to distance themselves from any attempts at

international mediation, either by the UN or any other body or individual country.21 The

uncertainty about a political future in Kashmiris turned into an armed uprising in the late

1980s. Kashmiri struggle has witnessed many ups and downs in its course till now and has

encompassed, of late, a paradigm shift from violence to non-violent populous movement

demanding plebiscite through political and diplomatic action on table. It has remained as a

subject of enormous interest and vibrant discussion between Indian nationalists,


intellectuals, international media, pro-freedom leaders, and social media and so on. The

majority of Indian population sees Kashmir through the prism of Indian nationalism as their

‘integral part’, the claim seconded by Indian national media while Pakistan calls Kashmir

its ‘Jugular vein’.

According to Human Rights groups, 70,000 people have lost their lives in the valley

during the conflict, besides the cases of enforced custodial disappearances, custodial

killings, and molestations, there are about 15,000 half widows (women whose husbands

were disappeared) in Kashmir.(Human rights report). And with uprising or civil unrest in

2008 and 2010 the contours Kashmir conflict has reached new contours and even the

Internet especially, social network became another form of way expressing the views and

dissent. There have been different forms of Kashmir resistance since 1947.

Growth of Alternative Media in Kashmir Post 2010:

With of Civil uprising in 2008 and 2010 in a disputed land of Kashmir. Alongside;

experiencing suppression from the authorities in the form of month-long curfews and

crackdown on protests, also witnessed curbs on local media, newspapers and ban on SMS

(Short Message Service). Only mainstream Indian media particularly satellite TV channels,

were allowed to cover the uprising which gave a lopsided representation of the situation.

"There is this massive uprising against Indian rule in Kashmir, and lots of people,

mostly young people, are killed on the streets of Kashmir. And, at the same time there were

huge curbs on media in Kashmir. Newspapers don't go to press; local TV channels are taken

off. There's a ban on text messaging, even journalists who go to report are beaten up on the

streets. So in that environment and space a fascinating thing happens, all these young

people, without a formal structure converge, and there's this almost near explosion of new

media activity in 2010." writes Mirza Waheed, the author of The Collaborator.22

Especially, the 2010 civil unrest saw the repressive policies of state completely

muzzling the voices and complete black out of Information on ground barring the national

news who propagated national agendas .‘Junctures of civil unrest in Kashmir invariably call


forth the reflexive attitude of blaming the messenger, making any form of restraint on the

working of the valley’s journalists – which often stretch all the way to active repression —

a perfectly permissible stratagem for restoring order .Since the upsurge in civil unrest in

Kashmir in June 2010, media practitioners saw their situation in terms of daily work

routines, sharply deteriorating. Gaining access to spots of breaking news became an ordeal

and gaining authentic information on the disturbances virtually impossible. There was a

lessening of the violence in Kashmir since the visit of an all-party parliamentary delegation

to the valley in September and journalists were reassured for a while that they could travel

to work and back without serious hindrance. But they continued to suffer enormous

restraints on daily functioning. Newspapers were shut for an estimated total of thirty days

since Kashmir’s protest began to rise in fury mid-June. The travails for journalists became

particularly grim from about July 7, when after several years; the Indian army was

summoned out of its barracks and deployed in the streets of Kashmir. A notification by the

state government and local authorities at the time extended curfew to cover the movement

of all civilians, and word was put out that press passes would no longer be honoured’.23

With Such curbs, the online portals and social networking sites became a means through

which journalists and other citizens in Kashmir conduct the conversations that are otherwise

denied by heavy handed restrictions. And also home ministry warned any mainstream to

behave themselves otherwise, advertisements which is the main revenue for Kashmir

Newspapers shall be snapped, if such content is given space., while the cable news channel

were completely barred from broadcasting because of their extensive coverage of 2008 and

2010 civil unrest.

Ever since, The 2010 Civil unrest number of alternative media portals emerged and

helped in playing a pivotal role in dissemination of Information.


Aims and Objectives of the Research

1. To understand the concept of alternative media.

2. To understand the presence of alternative media in Kashmir.

3. Evaluate the understanding how alternative media is shaping up to counter

mainstream media.

4. The aim of research is to find out whether, conflict reportage still dominates the

alternative media in Kashmir

5. How around the world alternative Media is providing source of participatory as

well, activism space.

6. To what extent alternative media has provided a different source to narratives in

conflict region.

7. Understand the Web content.


Research methodology

Methodology involves the decision about the methods of data collection. By this we

mean the techniques through which evidences or factual information can be collected. One

has to select and formulate the method according to the need. Different kinds of methods

are used in researches. Each a method has its own limitation and advantages. The researcher

should therefore, make a decision in the beginning as to what particular method he or she

will be using’. In selecting the method he should take into consideration not only the

suitability of the method but also knowledge of it. More than one method may be applied

but the prior planning of the same is essential.

Content analysis is done to study the diverse kinds of problems relating to the

characteristics of communication sources, message, cause and antecedents of the message

and effect of such messages.

The very nature of study demands an in depth and extensive study. In order to focus

on all the historical, social political and contemporary facets of this issue, here the

researcher has to analyse the communication content given in internet media and

deconstruct the messages and of ratio in it.

According to Wabilzer and Wiener (1978), content analysis is any systematic

procedure devised to examine the content of recorded information. Krippendorf (1980)

defined it as research technique for replicable and valid reference from data to their context.

Berlinson (1952): Content analysis is research technique for the object, systematic

and quantitative description of manifest content of communication.


Stone,Dumphy,Smith And Oglive(1966) Content analysis is any research technique

for making inference by systematically and objectively identifying specified characteristics

within text .

The Research is qualitative as well quantitative, it will try to give brief introduction of

these news portals and coverage they give to conflict nature of State i.e. Kashmir. And

analyse the ratio given to conflict vis-à-vis to other stories. The present research will try to

find out the placement and ratio of Conflict Stories with other stories, keeping a time

period of Fifteen days i.e. 15 March to 10 April, keeping the Web Page in consideration and

sections. Also use of interviews who run the portals to give understanding how they

conceive alternative media in Kashmir.

Keeping it reduced fifteen days only because mostly portals are monthly and update things

accordingly. The website doesn’t provide any remarkable features which will enable to

conceive of understanding the content more than these days. Howe ever, further limitations

are:

Limitations of Research

1. The Content of web analysis is most times complicated, as Macmillan Concludes in the

following five major issues exist when examining Web content:

- How to identify the units to be sampled?

- How to collect data for cross-coder tests when the Web changes rapidly?

- How to solve copyright issues if researchers download Web pages for analysis?

- How to standardize units of analysis given the multimedia features of the Web?

- How to check inter-coder reliability?

2. Researcher has discovered a number of methodological problems involved in Content

analysis of the Internet. It’s to be argued that the nonlinearity and customized Settings of

Web content violated the underlying assumptions of the traditional content analysis

method because Web users could read across stories and even Web sites through the

hyperlinks.


3. As Kashmir is still limping towards the Content on Internet, mostly the websites are

vague, text and alignment lacks proper arrangement.

4. There was possibility of taking a comparative study of Web page of any mainstream

newspaper like Greater Kashmir or Rising Kashmir but the placement of content and

stories in them doesn’t provide feel as of online journalism there on.

5. Taking the time period to assess the reportage on conflict on the portal is only fifteen

days for the portals updating is slow and analysing it for more days wouldn’t have been

productive.

6. Bulk of the hard stories on these news portals were from the agencies, which was to be

looked and considered.

Some of the news portals which emerged within and post 2010 unrest are:

Kashmir Dispatch

Vox Kashmir

Kashmir Walla

Authint Mail

Kashmir Currents

Parallel Post

Evening Mail

Most of the news portal emerged because of inadequate reportage on conflict. Taking

three alternative news portals post-2010, the research aims to understand the content and

reportage on conflict on these news portals, which are:

-Kashmir Dispatch

-Vox Kashmir


-Kashmir Wala

Vox Kashmir:

Wed Address: http://www.thevoxkashmir.com/

http://www.thevoxkashmir.com/


During the 2010 uprisings, Sheikh Saaliq, who was just an undergraduate student of

Journalism, started a blog that later on developed into a fully fledged website – The Vox

Kashmir. It features stories on art, culture, conflict, poetry, interviews, short fiction, society

and life. Run as a proper organization, The Vox Kashmir is a widely acclaimed e-zine - a

first of its kind from Jammu and Kashmir, India. It also has a section called "Daily" in

which daily pieces are published. The idea behind this web portal was to depict the true,

unbiased and firsthand account of events that would take place in Kashmir valley those

days and after. When the state government imposed restrictions on print and broadcast

media in Kashmir, the online media proliferated as a vital and only source of authentic and

unbiased news. The Vox Kashmir was among such very few online magazines that told the

stories of Kashmir. As of now, The Vox Kashmir is an independent online web portal based

in Kashmir and run by a group of four young people – all students of Journalism. The Vox

Kashmir has been time and again bringing forth the untold and debatable stories to its

readers. The Vox Kashmir was given coverage by various international news organizations

for its role as an alternate media in 2010 uprising in Kashmir. Its work has been featured in

The Guardian, The New York Times, The Daily Mail and The Sun.


Hard News Features Blogs Editorial0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

15th March to 5th April

While analysing the content of VOX Kashmir, it was found that the portal mainly reports

on conflict based stories. It wedges mainly hard stories and editorials framing the critical

conflict stories.


Kashmir Walla:

Web Address of Kashmir Walla Blog: http://www.thekashmirwalla.blogspot.in/

Website: http:/www.thekashmirwalla.com/

Kashmir walla is an online monthly based magazine. The Kashmir Walla was first

started as a blog in February, 2009 from Srinagar, Kashmir by Fahad Shah, a journalist and

a writer. The blog published stories, opinions and photos of the founder himself and also

the contributions from many prominent bloggers and journalists of many countries. In the

summer of year 2010, the blog was converted into a fully fledged website

thekashmirwalla.com.

http://www.thekashmirwalla.blogspot.in/


In which videos, fiction, poetry and paintings were added to the existing features.

The website with all its features received good response from readers throughout the globe.

In its short time as the website and operated single handedly it was a success in attracting a

good readership. After twenty-six months as blog and then website, it became an online

magazine with focus on art, political and social issues. The first issue of magazine received

thousands of hits in early hours of the day. The content of the magazine is re-published by

many different organizations throughout the world. The Kashmir Walla became a first of its

kind with space to dissent voices which never surfaced on mainstream media. It became a

definite Alternative public Discourse through online and was phenomenal in reportage of

events during 2010 unrest.

News(Hard) Magazine (reportage) Blog other0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

From March 15th to April 5th


Kashmir Dispatch:

Website address: http://www.kashmirdispatch.com/

Kashmir Dispatch is an online news and views portal based in Kashmir and

operated from different parts of the world. This news portal contains news, features, blog,

multimedia, columns, travel, art and culture etc. as the contents.


Hard Stories Feature Blog Columns0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

From March 15th to April 5th


Interviews

Interview 1:

Tawseef N Lone

C.E.O.

Authint Media (P) Ltd

Q1: Could you describe the idea behind the formation of Authint Mail, how did it begin?

A) The idea behind launching Authint Mail (AM) was simple, today we are very impatient, we want to know about the news or rather what's happening around us as quickly as possible, using any technological resource available. People don't want to wait till next morning to know about what happens now. The innate curiosity of humans makes us want to know things as they happen. We at AM wanted to cater to this growing need for information from users, because we are passionate about sharing stories, and when we’re as sure of the story as we can be, we share it immediately, in whatever way reaches the most people.

On Saturday, February 09, 2013, AM opened its services to readers with details about the execution of Indian Parliament attack accused Mohammad Afzal Guru. During that time administration has put in place an unofficial embargo on publication of newspapers and broadcasting of news channels. People across Kashmir and world wanted to know what's going on, and you can't trust social media all the time, as it sometimes is used to spread rumours and misrepresent information.

Our main responsibility defined by us is to provide impartial public service of story-telling, and to tell the story of Kashmir to the world while upholding the highest journalistic integrity.

Q2: Do you think there is a growing need of alternative Media in Kashmir, especially after uprising in 2010?

A) There definitely is need for Alternative Media, however, not just in Kashmir, but across the world, we have seen in how 'certain media houses' can change the course of any action or create a fixated opinion amongst public. Considering the continuous embargo by administration in Kashmir and restrictions on the free flow of information, it has become


imperative that we bring information to general public in any means possible and look for alternate mediums to information flow.

During the uprising of 2010, the focus of information flow shifted from traditional sources of information to never information sources, like online portals, social networking and blogs. The reason being curbs on the flow of information. Digital technologies have attributed to the rise of various channels or medium of information, which while not necessarily created to be medium of information, increasingly can be used to spread information, by allowing common people outside the circles of traditional journalism to completely bypass the 'gatekeepers' of traditional, mainstream media and share the information deemed important by these common people.

Q3: How do you assess the role of mainstream media in Kashmir, and its reportage on conflict?

Mainstream media in any context is usually biased in the selection and framing of news and information because they are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned. For example DD Kashmir was launched only to produce propaganda and counter Pakistan Radio. That's a classic example of mainstream media going wrong.

Before we can comment on the role of mainstream media and it's reportage on conflict we have to define what do we actually term as mainstream in Kashmir. The overlap in alternative and mainstream media in Kashmir is very obvious and thin, most of the newspaper's main source of income is government advertisements, as private or non-governmental sources of income in Kashmir are negligible. This has created indirect hold on the ideology and reportage in Kashmir.

We do not have a free flow of information even in alternate medium sources of information due to them being dependent on technologies which administration controls. Then there are criticism of the weaknesses of the internet, because of its ability to act as both "alternative and a mass medium”. This can create tension and friction in-group and out-group communication, and lastly the internet rarely lives up to its potential with constraints to its access.


Q4: How do you see the future of alternative Media in Kashmir?

Kashmir has a huge potential for development of Alternative Media, provided we have resources and infrastructural development which go hand in hand in growth of alternative media. Here for example we only have a single broadband service provider and mobile internet penetration is very weak.

Interview -2

-Qadri Inzamam, Managing Editor, VOX Kashmir

Q1: Could you describe the idea behind the formation of Vox, how did it begin?

The idea behind this web portal was to depict the true, unbiased and firsthand account of

events that would take place in Kashmir valley those days and after. When the state

government imposed restrictions on print and broadcast media in Kashmir, the online

media proliferated as a vital and only source of authentic and unbiased news. The Vox

Kashmir was among such very few online magazines that told the stories of Kashmir.

As of now, The Vox Kashmir is an independent online web portal based in Kashmir and run

by a group of four young people – all students of Journalism. The Vox Kashmir has been

time and again bringing forth the untold and debatable stories to its readers.

The Vox Kashmir was given coverage by various international news organizations for its

role as an alternate media in 2010 uprising in Kashmir. Its work has been featured in The

Guardian, The New York Times, The Daily Mail and The Sun.”

Q2: Do you think there is a growing need of alternative Media in Kashmir, especially

after uprising in 2010?

“Yes. I believe that there is a need of an alternative media in Kashmir given the

circumstances that often arise in the valley. 2010 was not the first time when government

banned the various media publications, but the Post-Afzal Guru hanging period witnessed


it as well. Alternate Media in Kashmir serves well and it has become a very useful and

easy tool for the young Kashmiri writers to express their views, ideas and dissent regarding

the issues ranging from conflict to culture, religion to art.

But with the proliferation of alternative media in Kashmir, there are chances that they may

go uncontrolled sometimes with no one to hold them accountable. With social media being

at the disposal of everyone, there is a very thin line that divides news and a rumour, an idea

and propaganda. That must be taken care of.”

Q3: How do you assess the role of mainstream media in Kashmir, and its reportage on

conflict?

“There is no denial in the fact that at many times Kashmir’s mainstream has succumbed to

the pressure of the authorities, and thus does not cover the conflict. But if one looks into the

history of mainstream media in Kashmir, one will find that they have covered tremendous

amount of stories related to conflict. Their role in highlighting the Kashmir issue at

national and international level cannot be ruled out.

There is, however, no denying in the fact as well that from the past many years, most of the

mainstream media in Kashmir has changed its policy towards covering the conflict.

Reasons can be obvious: security and economic issues. This is where Alternative media has

played a vital role in keeping the Kashmir conflict highlighted in the realm of media.”


“We have witnessed the 2008-10 uprisings and the Post-Afzal hanging period. We

witnessed that how social media proved to be one of the key factors in instigating or at

times controlling the protests. Now that social media is altogether different from alternative

media, but there is fact that with the widespread of internet in Kashmir, mostly among the

youth, alternative media seems to be a better choice of the youth. They find it easy to access

and get news much before than other medium. Alternate media has a wide scope in

Kashmir and as a matter of fact, many more people are jumping this band-wagon these

days.”


Interview -3

- Editor, Parallel Post

Q1: Could you describe the idea behind the formation of parallel post, how did it

begin?

The Parallel Post began in the year 2010, in Srinagar, as a result of the non-availability of

space for those who wanted to write, express ideas. With mainstream Indian media non-

receptive to Kashmiri narrative and the media in Kashmiri being limited, hostile and

gagged there was no choice but to start an alternative forum. Thus, the parallelpost.com

came into existence. It has so far published every contribution it received, not on the scale

of quality, but truth. It does not believe in good and bad write-ups, rather in honesty. The

Parallel Post encourages every writer irrespective of the intellectual capacity, literal ability

or political ideology. It does not side with any particular agenda and lobby.


conflict?

The mainstream media in Kashmir is city biased and does not encompass all the sectors

that are to be reported it is too dependent on State and is heavily under its influence due to

advertisement. It has not evolved as an institution so far. It is exploitative in nature and

faces a threat of gagging from the state.



It is unfortunate but there is a need for alternative media but Alternative media can never

play as important role as mainstream plays. The basic idea that the media gets classified

into mainstream and alternative is sorry state of affairs’ does not support Alternative media

Interview -4

Sheikh Saaliq, Founder, VOX Kashmir

Q1: Do you think there is a growing need of alternative Media in Kashmir, especially

after uprising in 2010?

The Alternative media in Kashmir did obviously grow after the 2010 uprising because

people wanted to share their stories. Most of the websites were made during the unrest but

now the trend has changed. Alternative Media is taking a new shape in Kashmir, not just

talking about stories from Kashmir but also taking other issues as well, be it social,

political or economical.


conflict?

Mainstream media most of the times is under curb in Kashmir but it has done its bit. But

change in necessary. More space should be given to people who want to share their

dthoughts and ideas. Also, fair reporting is the need of the hour.



Growing and flouring by every single passing day. More and more news portals and

websites are coming up with very rich stuff. Quality writing is quite visible.


Conclusion: Research aim was to understand the nitty-gritty of Alternative media and how is its scope when considering the Mainstream Media. Alternative media follows different structure as well content in relation to Mainstream Media. Having its genesis from Frankfurt School of communication, the alternate media aims at role of media in dissemination of information as well, involving the people in it. It usually follows the Gramsci model. In Kashmir post 2010 civil unrest alternative media especially on web became a conspicuous norm across Kashmir. News portals especially, Kashmir dispatch, Kashmir Walla and later on VOX Kashmir became a platform where stories of all happenings related to 2010 unrest got updated quickly. As there was curb on Mainstream newspapers, local television channels, these alternate news portals played a good role in dissemination of information. Ever since, 2010 these news portals have been instrumental in narrating the ordeals of the conflict or occupation. Alternative Media in Kashmir in comparison to rest of world is still in its initial stage. While most of these news portals are run by students especially media students, it was only Kashmir dispatch which was different and had journalists working for it. Alternative media is still its vague form, with no proper form and structure in comparison to other say Kafila in India. However, their role of providing space to writers who don’t get space in mainstream media is something which with, this evolution of alternative media in Kashmir. Since its beginning or say concept of alternative media the bulk of stories are on conflict. Conflict stories dominant the discourse on these portals. My research keeping that in consideration found conflict stories are leading. Blogs, interviews, articles and even editorials are aimed on conflict. Mainstream Media less coverage has been replaced by the presence of Alternative media. Else than Alternative Media on web other say, on television and newspaper is minimum. And very few independent documentaries or short films on Kashmir scenario. It is a beginning for alternate media, irrespective of state’s strong hold on media in Kashmir. Alternative Media is going in Kashmir and its content too is growing strong. With new websites emerging and new voices surfacing on ground, alternative media gives impartiality and to a very extent ends hegemony of mainstream media.


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