What Is Alternative Media?

The definition of mainstream media has not been basically unified, and different concepts about mainstream media can be drawn from different perspectives. In fact, mainstream media should be a comprehensive concept, and its connotation consists of three aspects. But at the same time, different media, in different periods, the content of the three aspects has changed. At present, there are four types of definitions: different definitions from the perspectives of politics, economy, operation, and integration.

mainstream media

The concept of mainstream media can be defined from a qualitative perspective, such as political, authoritative, and influential, using advanced media and serious media;

It can also be defined from the perspective of quantity, such as scale, circulation, economic income, etc., with big newspapers and large stations, and strong media;

It can also be defined in terms of both qualitative and quantitative aspects.

Mainstream, the original meaning refers to the main stream of the river, which is extended to other things. It is a metaphor for the main aspects of the development of things, and represents the characteristics, nature, and trends of things. The mainstream media is the main media that has a certain scale, has considerable influence, and represents the direction of development.

In China, there are several definitions of mainstream media:

1. From a political perspective: "Mainstream media is relative to non-mainstream media. Provincial or higher media that have a large influence, play a leading role, and can represent or influence public opinion. They are called mainstream media, mainly referring to the central government and provinces. The newspapers of the Party Committee of the urban area and the central, provincial and municipal radio and television stations, and other major newspapers and stations. "(Zhou Shenglin, Professor, School of Journalism, Fudan University, Journalism, No. 6, 2001)

2. From an economic perspective: "Mainstream media is the mainstream media that cares about the mainstream of social development and has become the source of information and ideas that the mainstream people rely on." The media economy is the economy of influence. Media influence comes from the social influence of the audience it attracts. According to the different ways of media to attract audiences, they can be divided into popular media and mainstream media. Mainstream media is to "gather the most socially influential audiences (mainly those who have higher decision-making power, knowledge discourse power and The members of the society who have the power to speak) as the media of their own market demands ", that is, the media that wins by quality (Yu Guoming, Professor, School of Journalism, Renmin University of China, China Press and Publication News, January 20, 2001)

3. From the perspective of business: For example, Professor Zhou Shenglin of the School of Journalism of Fudan University believes that the media must meet three conditions to become mainstream media, that is, a large circulation and ratings; a large advertising turnover; Great influence and authority. According to Professor Shao Zhizhao of the School of Journalism and Communication of Zhejiang University, mainstream media is "the media that enjoys a high reputation in society by relying on mainstream capital, facing mainstream audiences, and using mainstream expressions to reflect mainstream concepts and mainstream lifestyles." The mainstream media is a media that relies on mainstream capital, faces mainstream audiences, uses mainstream expressions, reflects mainstream ideas and mainstream lifestyles, and enjoys a high reputation in the society. "(Shao Zhize, Professor of Zhejiang University School of Journalism and Communication," News Reporter, No. 3, 2002).

4. From a comprehensive perspective: "The mainstream media is a powerful media that assumes important publicity tasks and functions, covers a wide area, has a strong brand, and has a strong influence." (Wang Guoqing, deputy director of the Press Division of the General Administration of Press and Publication, "China News" (November 3, 2001)

The research results of the Xinhua News Agency's "Research on the Effectiveness and Influence of Public Opinion Guidance" show that there are six criteria for judging mainstream media:

1. It has the mouthpiece function of the party, government and people, and has an authority position and special influence that are incomparable to ordinary news media. It is regarded as the authoritative representative of the will, voice, and opinions of the party, government, and the people ;

2. To embody and disseminate the mainstream ideology and mainstream values of society. In our country, it is the socialist ideology and values that are compatible with it. It adheres to and guides the mainstream and forward direction of social development, and has a strong influence.

3. With strong credibility, reports and comments have been widely concerned by most people in the society and cited as the basis for thought and action, and have been reprinted, quoted, analyzed and judged by domestic and foreign media;

4. Focus on reporting important trends in the political, economic, social, cultural and other fields at home and abroad, and is a recorder of the main context of historical development;

5. The basic audience is a representative group of all levels of society;

6. Has a large circulation or high listening and ratings, affecting a wider audience such as

Li Peng and Chen Xiang believe that the value system of mainstream media includes four levels: mainstream information, mainstream audiences, mainstream markets, and mainstream brands. [9] Based on what I said to the mainstream media. Special emphasis is placed on mainstream advertising, and mainstream mainstream advertising is researched independently from the mainstream market, and the content of mainstream information is expanded to become mainstream information. As a result, the mainstream media showed the following salient features: they reported mainstream information, had a mainstream audience, occupied the mainstream market, attracted mainstream advertising, and formed mainstream brand media.

1. Mainstream audience. The so-called mainstream audiences are: mastery of the right to speak (they have strong consumption power); mastery of the right to speak (that is, they have certain economic and political power); mastery of the right to speak (they belong to the cultural elite category, At least close to this social class); media audiences who have a say in fashion. In short, the mainstream crowd refers to young, wealthy, cultural, powerful and promising people who pursue fashion and are the most popular among advertisers. Which media has won this crowd, its circulation is not necessarily high, as long as the readers are stable, businesses are willing to invest high advertising costs to such media.

2. Mainstream information. In order to have a mainstream audience that advertisers are rushing to. The media must provide media products that suit their tastes. People, especially mainstream audiences, need the most information about news and life, work, study, leisure, etc., among which news is the most important.
Leshan has divided six levels of communication content:
The first layer is content related to the life of each audience, such as: policy, technology, health, economy, etc .;
The second layer is related to some audiences, but can attract the attention of other audiences, such as: disasters, accidents, incidents, etc. that occurred in the nearest area;
The third layer is irrelevant to the local audience, but the content reflects unforeseen events, or is extremely harmful due to suddenness, or is very interesting and has suspicious content, such as: 9 · 11 Terror events, major earthquakes in a certain area, etc .;
The fourth layer is irrelevant to the audience, but it is the content that the audience needs to feel spiritually, such as: sports, World Cup football, entertainment, etc .;
The fifth layer is irrelevant to the audience, but can stimulate the audience's emotional resonance or appeal, such as: cultural essays, prose, etc .;
The sixth layer is professional content, which is only relevant to professionals, such as IT, biotechnology, and chemical technology. One advantage of this method of information division is that different information content is related to the information needs of different audiences.
We believe that from the above six aspects, if it reflects the mainstream ideology, grasps the trend of public opinion, authoritative reporting style, high reporting intensity of major events, and cutting-edge and forward-looking information is mainstream information.

3. The mainstream market. What kind of audiences have what kind of market, what kind of market has what kind of advertising. There are two dimensions to mainstreaming the media to create a mainstream market. One dimension is advertising. We will elaborate in the next question. The other dimension is the mainstreaming of market segmentation. The target market segment must be a central city and a sub-center city with purchasing power, radiation, and development prospects, or the target market is in the mainstream in this region. It represents the politics, economy, and culture of this region. Distribution and distribution of regional logistics, capital flows, and information flows. We emphasize that the meaning of market segmentation is not limited to geographical location, but also to people's psychology.

4. Mainstream advertising. We believe that the number of advertisements in a media is small, but the total amount of advertisements is very high, and they occupy a high share of the local advertising market, unique advertising forms, excellent advertising creativity, strong advertisers, and high credibility and authority in advertising. It has mainstream advertising. To this end, the media needs to optimize the structure of the advertising market, adjust advertising resources, purify the advertising market, and explore advertising prospects. Attract influential and powerful companies to advertise. Eliminate false advertising, low-level advertising, vulgar advertising, junk advertising, and cultivate an advertising market with promising growth potential and strong potential. At the same time, correct the view that advertising is profit, and determine the new advertising concepts of advertising as information, advertising as reader, and advertising as service.

5. Mainstream brands. The intensified competition among various media, the imbalance between supply and demand coupled with market linkages will inevitably lead to the strengthening of media brand awareness. The homogeneity of news is a typical feature of the melee in the media market in China. The substitution between media is very obvious, and the bottom line for competition is quite fragile. And "high-grade communication" can not only generate a good social reputation, but also win a generous market return; on the contrary, high economic returns will have a positive impact on further improving the quality of communication. In the period of excess programming, the audience's preferred standard is preference And loyalty, that is, the brand. Only high-quality, high-audio-visual brands can have a larger audience and occupy a larger market share. The so-called mainstream brand is the dominant brand in the competitive area, and the preferred brand recognized by the audience and advertisers The mainstream brand strategy is reflected in the innovation of news reporting, that is, to strive for exclusive news, build brand columns, and build strong sections.

The mainstream crowd, mainstream information, mainstream advertising, mainstream market, and mainstream brands coexist and are related to each other. They cannot be separated, but we will describe them for clarity of analysis. In the five major aspects, the mainstream population has occupied the mainstream position.

The term "mainstream media" is actually "exported." It is to rely on mainstream capital, face mainstream audiences, use mainstream expressions to reflect mainstream concepts and mainstream lifestyles, and take mainstream social groups as their reading targets. American sociologist Mills (Wright.C. Mills) proposed the "powerelite" theory, referring to those social classes that occupy high positions in economic, military, and political institutions. This part of the power elite is in society. Mainstream groups, they have higher decision-making power, knowledge-based power and consumer-based power.

The mainstream media is to attract the most socially influential audiences, that is, the elites of power as their own market appeal, to win by quality. In fact, mainstream media is the mainstream of media in any society. The mainstream society needs the media to serve itself, and it needs mainstream channels to speak. At the same time, if a medium wants to achieve a higher status and win more benefits, it must reach a tacit understanding with the mainstream society, or even integrate into one. It can be understood this way that the mainstream media is a large news organization where a country acts as a flag and a sentry post, and it has become a national ideological level of value and judgment. It entered China in recent years, but quickly became a hot word in the media. Many scholars also research and discuss the mainstream media from multiple perspectives.

So far, there has not been a unified definition of "mainstream media" generally accepted by the industry and academia. Nevertheless, there is some consensus on what constitutes mainstream media, for example, it must have broad influence. In our country, newspapers, periodicals and radio and television organizations under the leadership of the party and government are the mainstream media.