Challengers in the journalistic field – A study of alternative media and their relations to incumbents, governance units, the state, and each other

Abstract

The interaction between alternative and mainstream media is complex and often contentious. Mainstream journalists question the professionalism and political agendas of alternative media, while the latter criticize mainstream journalists for being biased and elitist. This paper investigates the positioning of alternative media in the journalistic field, both as a collective and as individual entities. Using the Strategic Action Field approach, we take an in-depth look at alternative media as challengers, approaching them as less privileged actors in the journalistic field. Through interviews with editors of alternative media in Norway, we engage with, and not merely discuss, antagonistic and agonistic actors in journalism. The study offers a nuanced understanding of how left-wing and right-wing alternative media, both collectively and individually, relate to other social actors in the field including media organizations (incumbents), press organizations and press councils (governance units), funders (state), and other alternative media (challengers). In the article, we identify three different positions, the anti-systemic, the independent and the pragmatic, pointing to different levels of knowledge of the journalistic field and strategic actions amongst alternative media.