Journal of Alternative and Community Media

SPECIAL ISSUE “The “Other” Alternatives: Political Right-Wing Media On- and Offline”

CALL FOR PAPERS – EXTENDED DEADLINE

Guest Editors:

Research on alternative media is deeply rooted in media scepticism of the 1970s and is especially influenced by cultural studies. The main aim of alternative forms of journalism is to challenge mainstream media and its professional practices (Atton, 2010). Moreover, alternative media producers want to give voice to minorities (Bailey, Cammaerts & Carpentier, 2008) and, particularly in left-wing journalism, to overcome cultural hegemony of political and economic elites fostered by established media (Schweiger, 2017). Consequently, studies on alternative media mainly focus on left-wing conceptions (Beywl & Brombach, 1983; Holtz-Bacha, 2015), on alternative media as oppositional instruments in authoritarian regimes (Schweiger, 2017) as well as on community media (Bailey et al., 2008; Harnischmacher, 2015).

However, “little attention has been paid to right-wing media as alternative media” (Atton, 2006, 574). Actually, we see a vast spectrum of right-wing media such as Breitbart News Network, The Alex Jones Show and Infowars or the influential publicist Milo Yiannopoulos. Though many right-wing platforms have little impact, some prominent organisations have a high reach in terms of followers, “like” numbers or circulation rates. In addition to that, we witness that alternative right-wing media gain importance in daily politics. For instance, Breitbart News Network and the blog The Gateway Pundit entered the White House Press Corps after the election of Donald Trump.

This special issue of the Journal of Alternative and Community Media focusses on Alternative Right-Wing Media which is published online as well as offline to close the research gap in the right-wing media spectrum.

Possible papers could focus on questions such as:

  • How do right-wing media represent themselves? Do they emphasise their role as alternative media contrary to mainstream media? How is the relationship to other media? For example, are there opportune connections to established mainstream media, e.g. citations of or links to mainstream media articles?
  • Who are the recipients of alternative right-wing media? How do they think about political issues and about established media? Is there a connection between media scepticism (the “liar press” accusations in Germany and the “fake news” allegations in the US are still part of the public discussion) and the use of alternative media?
  • Who are the producers of alternative media in the right-wing sector? Do they have a professional background in journalism? Which political views do they have?
  • Do right-wing alternative media have elements of participating journalism or are they used to promote the political standpoints of the producers?
  • Is there a closed counter public sphere in the right-wing spectrum? Can we perceive effects of echo chambers or filter bubbles (Pariser, 2011)?

Submissions due: 30 May 2018 (extended deadline)

Publication: Late 2018

Submission Guidelines:

Manuscripts of 6,000-8,000 words should be submitted to andre.haller@uni-bamberg.de by 30 May 2018.

Full style guidelines are available at cstonline.netjoacm.org/index.php/JOACM/pages/view/authors

Manuscripts will be subject to double-blind peer review and should be submitted free of identifying features, together with a cover letter supplying the full name of each author with current affiliation and contact details.