Making Our Media: Global Initiatives Toward a Democratic Public Sphere, Vol. One: Creating New Communication Spaces.

Abstract

In chapter One, "Making Culture Visible: The Mediated Construction of a Mapuche Nation in Chile," ftaunaker/scholar Juan Salazar draws on Nancy Fraser's theoretical framework of "counter public spheres" to explore how Mapuche media makers in Chile and Argentina have used a range of media tools to mediate and in effect talk back to the state that has rendered their political participation invisible. In the spirit of advocacy research, Salazar offers concrete suggestions such as airtime quotas for indigenous content in order to move beyond exclusive information practices. In Chapter Two, "Analyzing Grassroots Journalism on the Web: Reporting and the Participatory Practice of Online News Gathering," web journalist/scholar Chris Anderson uses Bourdieu, field theory to understand three very different examples of grassroots journalism in the United States and the UK that could be framed as "participatory journalism" (p. 67). He explores the form of participation in each project and ends on a cautious note about the degree to which ordine participatory journalism will impact the field of journalism or the larger society. In Chapter Three, "Theorizing Citizens' Media: A Rhizomatic Approach," radio producer/theorist Tanja Bosch draws on Deleuze and Guattari's concept of rhizomatic structures to offer an ethnographic examination of a community station, Bush Radio in Cape Town, which she describes as a site of resistance in post-apartheid South Africa Bosch explains, "[rjhrough the application of rhizomatic theory to community radio, we further see that Bush Radio is not so much an organization as it is a rhizomatic organism, held together by a complex set of toterlinked networks of relationships and interactions, with the concept of community pulsating as its central life force" (p. 85). More than simply pushing forward theoretical concepts, each author demonstrates an investment in developing frameworks to enhance practices that amplify local or marginalized voices, strengthen networks, or advocate for change. Ellie Rennie introduces the third section, "Examining Internal Structures, Dynamics, and Forms," with yet another set of provocative questions, this time intended to unpack assumptions regarding alternative media: "Why does participation by ordinary folks necessarily lead to alternative, democratic communication? What obstacles do community media face" (p. 156)? Chapter Seven, "Making Spaces: Independent Media and the Formation of the Democratic Public Sphere in Australia" by Michael Meadows, Susan Forde, Jacqui Ewart, and Kerrie Foxwellis, is also framed by questions such as "Why do people get involved in community media? How does involvement impact content and audiences" (p. 177)? The chapter discusses the results from focus groups of community radio audiences in Australia The authors conclude that "[cjommunity media are thus resources for building multiple and complex media and cultural literacies through participation on a localized and personalized scale" (p. 178). In Chapter Twelve, "Reclaiming the Public Sphere in Chile under Dictatorship and Neoliberal Democracy," Rosalind Bresnaban examines the production of alternative media and its role in expanding a "critical expressive space" (p. 287) during the seventeen year dictatorship of Pinochet, as well as during the subsequent "transition to democracy" (p. 271). Chapter Thirteen, "Capture Wales Digital Storytelling: Community Media Meets the BBC" by Jenny Kidd, is an in-depth analysis of a collaborative media project initiated by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to highlight local stories. Kidd guides readers step-by-step through the storytelling workshop process, providing practical insights for those engaged in similar practices. Like the other authors in this section, she acknowledges the complexity of collaborating with state institutions, but also points out "these projects have often been the brainchildren of specific individuals, not simply the culture of the Corporation at a particular time" (p. 296). Each of these chapters describes in detail the negotiations between the state and citizen media projects and recognizes the simultaneous potential for identity expression as well as state cooptation.