This multiple-method study bridges what John D.H. Downing has called a ‘distinctly disturbing gulf’ between our knowledge of social actors and theories about alternative media by considering the symbolic uses of news in an activist audience and by extending theories of news reading as a ritual act through which social bonds are produced. Because people often read news in private or diffuse situations, reading must be represented to other community members through discourse in order to communicate those information sources – and hence social ideals – they have in common. In interviews, activists downplayed consumption of corporate media, but diaries confirmed that they used a wide range of both alternative and mainstream sources. I propose that this interpretive community achieved its identity in part by rejecting mainstream media, so that performing the role of ‘alternative reader’ served as a marker of individual taste and group belonging.

Media scholars and non‐scholars alike have long sought to discern and describe the differences between alternative media and mainstream media — a task that became harder in the digital age, as online communications blurred boundaries. This essay examines how theorists and researchers have attempted to clarify the term ‘alternative media’ and to explain why this category remains relevant in a networked society. Academics largely reject the alternative–mainstream dichotomy and view these media on a continuum, featuring many hybrids and few pure instances. While differences between the two forms are less apparent in liberal democracies than in authoritarian regimes, alternative media persist in being less commercial, producing more critical content and being more committed to social change than their mainstream counterparts. In a converged context, the idea of ‘alternative media’ with a dialectical, interdependent relationship to the mainstream remains important to many producers, users and scholars.

This article enriches debates about “alternative media” by exploring what the term means to users through an audience survey (n = 224). Responses revealed values and practices that respondents agreed were important to alternative media. Users deemed a wide array of media “alternative”: political blogs, public broadcasting, foreign sources, and alternative‐press institutions, as well as The Daily Show, Facebook, Fox News, and The Huffington Post. Despite criticizing corporations and advertising, this audience considered some corporate, commercial outlets “alternative media.” Respondents valued alternative content (neglected issues, diverse voices, mobilizing information) more highly than alternative form (being nonprofit, noncommercial, small‐scale). I argue here that the dialectic of alternative media/mainstream media continues to provide a critical and cultural touchstone for users in a converged environment.

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