Digital-Native News and the Remaking of Latin American Mainstream and Alternative Journalism explores the rise of independent, digital-native news outlets in Latin America and their role in social change, protest participation, and the refinement of the concept of "alternative" media. Drawing upon a decade of original research, including interviews, surveys, focus groups, and content analyses, this book questions how the emergence of online-native news sites in Latin America is redefining our understanding of what it means to be mainstream and what it means to be alternative. By analyzing a wide range of elements, from business models and audience behaviors to social media use and the role of gender, this text examines how these sites are challenging traditional, hegemonic mainstream news media and its service to political and economic elites. The result is a discerning investigation into the new brand of journalism these sites have innovated. This insightful study will be of interest to journalism, communication, and Latin American scholars, particularly those interested in how technology is moulding journalistic practices and changing conceptions of journalism itself.

This ethnographic study explores how four alternative media projects in El Salvador integrated digital technologies-particularly social media-into their practices, and whether incorporating these technologies affected citizen participation not only in the media production process, but in a broader discursive sphere of civic and political life as well. Summer Harlow investigates the factors that influence the extent to which alternative media producers are able to use digital tools in liberating ways for social change by opening a space for participation in technology (as content producers) and through technology (as engaged citizens). The book advances existing literature with two main contributions: extending our understanding of the digital divide to include inequalities of social media use, and including technology use-whether liberating or not-as a fundamental component of a mestizaje approach to the study of alternative media.

This ethnographic study explores how four alternative media projects in El Salvador integrated digital technologies-particularly social media-into their practices, and whether incorporating these technologies affected citizen participation not only in the media production process, but in a broader discursive sphere of civic and political life as well. Summer Harlow investigates the factors that influence the extent to which alternative media producers are able to use digital tools in liberating ways for social change by opening a space for participation in technology (as content producers) and through technology (as engaged citizens). The book advances existing literature with two main contributions: extending our understanding of the digital divide to include inequalities of social media use, and including technology use-whether liberating or not-as a fundamental component of a mestizaje approach to the study of alternative media.