Negotiated Hegemony and Reconstructed Boundaries in Alternative Media Coverage of Globalization

Abstract

This study examines the mediated public sphere regarding globalization as a product of both mainstream and alternative media. Implicit in many arguments about alternative media is that they uniquely engage audiences and enable counterhegemonic public spheres because alternative content is substantially different from mainstream content. This well-understood assertion about alternative coverage was tested through empirical analyses of alternative and mainstream media coverage of globalization. Findings indicate that alternative media coverage was more open to nonlegitimated sources in terms of access and recognition than mainstream media, but that the discursive space of alternative media was fragmented, nonresponsive and even more exclusionary than mainstream media. Implications for critical theories of alternative media and conceptualizations of a unitary public sphere are discussed.