ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rise of new alternative online political media (AOPM) and aims to ask whether these sites challenge or exacerbate the spread of populism and mis/disinformation. AOPM are distinguished by their digital-native status via websites and social media. Long-standing conceptual debates fundamentally ask how alternative media are understood in relation to legacy/mainstream media. The study argued that AOPM were characterised by a focus on a narrow set of topics according to their editorial biases and that ‘disinformation is only one, and a rather minor, aspect’ of alternative media. Moreover, biases can be perpetuated by dominant discourses within commentary and analysis of AOPM. The sporadic evidence of links between alternative media and mis/disinformation tends to focus on high-profile incidents, such as Pizzagate or The Canary’s false reporting on Laura Kuenssberg. As J. Rone points out, there are few sources of systematic academic evidence directly linking alternative media and mis/disinformation.
