Research Articles
Author: Pantelis Vatikiotis (Department of Art Sciences University of Ioannina)
The article draws firstly on theories that question the exclusionary nature of mass communication in terms of the emancipatory potential of ‘new media’; of the democratization of communication; or even in terms of advancing alternative forms of communication. By probing specifically into various small-scale, decentralised media projects, issues concerning the social as well as the cultural context of their implementation; their creation, production and dissemination; the employment of new technologies; and, instances of the very mediation process itself, across both the production and reception process, are addressed. From the perspective of a non-essentialist account of such media projects, the paper draws finally on approaches that evaluate these projects on the grounds of their ‘lived experience’, in terms of their social actors, agents; acknowledging thus an overall framework of understanding the practice of such projects, as instances of the constitution of citizenship.
Keywords: citizenship, ‘lived experience’, civil society, democratic communication, radical/community/participatory/alternative/citizens’ media
How to Cite: Vatikiotis, P. (2017) “Communication Theory and Alternative Media”, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture. 2(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.5