MDSC02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter A brief history of alternative and activist media: Alternative Media, News Values, Antonio Gramsci
Document Summary
A brief history of alternative and activist media: print media in west seen as challenge to status quo from very beginning. Johann gutenburg"s first commercial printing projects in 1400s were for official sponsors, bibles that made him famous gave non-clerics access to information nor previously available to public. First newspapers, provided information on shipping, banking, conflicts, and current ideas to emerging business class: knowledge is power, media have ability to spread that power. Redistribution of power is not always a democratising process. Each time media begin to reach or be made by broader class or marginalised subculture, corresponding reaction can be expected from these currently in power. Fed an explosion of broadsheets, flyers, pamphlets, and newspapers that challenged status quo. Carried mixture of calls for social reform and entertaining writing about crimes and scandals: government reacted with taxes on paper, requiring licenses to publish, and harassing publishers. Print shops were raided, equipment destroyed, and publishers jailed.
