The ‘other’ alternatives: Political right-wing alternative media

Abstract

This special issue of the Journal of Alternative and Community Media presents five articles that examine right-wing alternative media from different countries and contexts: Brazil, the United States, Germany and Finland. They focus on different aspects of a phenomenon that has come to the forefront of public debate in recent years, due to the many apparently successful alternative media enterprises that can be characterised as conservative, libertarian, populist or far to extreme right wing on a political scale. While there has been much (and often heated) public debate about this, researchers tend to lag behind when it comes to new trends, and a transient and rapidly changing media landscape. The articles in this special issue are therefore especially valuable, since they all provide empirically grounded perspectives on specific cases that illustrate different parts of a large puzzle that is in much need of illumination. This special issue is of use not just to communication research, but also to the public debate on disinformation on the internet.