Lena Frischlich contributes Introduction to Special Issue of Digital Journalism

In the introduction to Contesting the Mainstream: Understanding Alternative News Media, Dr. Lena Frischlich discusses the influence alternative news media has on news diversity and elaborates on some key concepts that are further discussed in the articles published in the special issue. She argues that it becomes more and more important for awareness about normative positions in alternative media research to spread so that their role in society can be better understood. As the issue presents research from Europe, Asia, North and Latin America and the Middle East, the differences in how these radical actors are discussed and studied make clear that it is essential to further think about the normative purpose of alternative media and how it guides our understanding of their role in differently structured societies and political systems.