In Search Of The Virtually Unknown: The Independent Media Center And Its Audiences

As the Internet has helped us create new forms of journalism and information, one experiment in voluntary citizen journalism stands out from the rest. The Independent Media Center Movement is the most successful alternative journalism movement ever. It was born at World Trade Organization protests in 1999. It is over ten years old. No single alternative media has lasted this long. While many scholars have contributed to its understanding, its audiences have never been examined, until now. This study draws on existing literature of mass communication and social movement literature. This book examines who uses these sites and puts forth a new theory of audiences of alternative media called, prefigurative media. This study examines who uses media like this and why. This study sets the table for further studies of online alternative media.