ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to deconstruct previous categorisations of alternative and mainstream media by arguing for a convergence of the media spectrum. The collapse of alternative and mainstream distinctions in the media is the result of several contributory factors that are converging across the journalistic profession: the rise of internet technologies; an interdependency of sources and resources; reduced journalism standards met with rising standards of alternative journalism; and increased expectations for transparency as well as ‘relatability’ across all media. This chapter argues that all of these factors are interrelated within an omnipresent commercial ideology that has revised economic mandates across journalism and has led to a widespread collapse of meaningful distinctions between the alternative and mainstream press. It is important to stress that essential differences do remain at the individual level between generalised conceptions of alternative and mainstream media. However, the aim of this chapter is to problematise the common tendency toward mutually exclusive classifications and to investigate the complexities that now exist in categorising our present media system within the context of an omnipresent commercialism found throughout contemporary culture.
