Edinburgh Napier University

  What place do alternative media have in Scotland? The need for alternative media has emerged as an urgent one in these times of media consolidation and neoliberalism. ‘Alternative media’ is a resolutely relative term, one which can include the media of pressure groups and advocacy groups; the grassroots campaigning journalism of new social movements; ethnic and gender minority group media; the ‘working class press’ of Marxist-Leninism; anarchist publications. Neither should it ignore the increasing use of video, audio and Internet practices for such interventions. This diversity makes consistent, historic and long-term challenges difficult, particularly in a small country like Scotland, where political fragmentation and geographic isolation can be acute.