Alternative Media and Protest: Examining the Impact of Entrepreneurial Online News Sites in Latin America

• In Event: Alternative Media and Counter Narratives

Abstract

Most alternative media research focuses on its producers, rather than consumers, and few studies examine how alternative media might influence protest participation. This study fills those gaps in the literature by examining the political activeness of readers of Latin American entrepreneurial, independent online news sites, elucidating the mobilizing potential of these sites and interrogating the extent to which such sites can be considered "alternative." Survey results (n=3,871) show the more readers accessed news online and the more they used social media, the more likely they were to participate in protest activities. Alternative media use also was associated with protest participation. Additionally, participation in online activism positively influenced participation in offline activism. Readers’ motivations for reading the online news sites also was linked to protest participation, suggesting that the alternative characteristics that motivated respondents to read these news sites are crucial constitutive elements connecting alternative media use and protest participation.

Author

• Summer Harlow, U of Houston