Six ways alt-left media legitimatize their criticism of mainstream media

An analysis of The Canary and Evolve Politics (2015–19)

Bibliographic Data

ID7512995
AuthorsStephen Cushion (0000-0001-7164-8283, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume5
Issue2
Pages153-171
Publication date2020-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Alternative & Community Media (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2206-5857 • E-ISSN: 2634-4726
PublisherIntellect (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1386/joacm_00081_1
OpenAlexW3135391885
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited7

In recent years, new alternative left-wing media sites in the United Kingdom – labelled alt-left media – have become popular sources of news. They often focus their attention on the ‘MSM’, an acronym used to pejoratively represent ‘mainstream media’. But there has been limited academic attention about how these new alternative media report mainstream media and critique professional journalism. Drawing on a highly focused dataset of 158 stories from a sample of 1284 articles, this study examined two alt-left media sites in the United Kingdom, The Canary and Evolve Politics, from 2015 to 2019, and identified six specific ways they legitimized their criticism of mainstream media. This involved the constant surveillance of mainstream media reporting, questioning editorial judgements with close textual analysis and drawing on authoritative sources to substantiate claims. It is argued that more research is needed to understand how alternative media are delegitimizing the value of professional journalism

Criticism · Journalism · Mainstream · Media studies · News media · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Media Studies and Communication · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Social Media and Politics · Law