Alternative Media on the Front Lines: Unicorn Riot and Activist Journalism’s New Urgency

Abstract

Alternative media has typically defied the status quo both in journalistic practice and in ways that challenge commonly held tenets of press ethics. Unicorn Riot’s alternative coverage of the 2020 social justice protests marked a milestone in decentralized, street-level storytelling shattering norms of both journalistic production and digital modes of publication, in the process renewing public and academic discourse on journalistic principles. This study argues that Unicorn Riot’s unique brand of alternative media can function as a form of activist journalism capable of meeting the urgent needs of the 2020 protests through methods liberated from comparatively restrictive, and in some cases moribund, journalistic storytelling forms and production practices. IndyMedia, a network of alternative news organizations, has faded in visibility given its reliance on free labor and its non-compliance with government entities. Unicorn Riot’s production practice, which relies on hours-long livestreaming video featuring interviews with protesters and community members rather than government officials, prompts reconsideration of digital journalism principles of objectivity and citizen journalism while bringing new meaning to the role of advocacy in activist reporting. Interpretive critical analysis of media texts suggests several core principles of journalism have been preserved, transformed, and/or threatened in the example of Unicorn Riot.