| Journalism historians have addressed the important role that ethnic and gay/lesbian media have played within their communities and as part of a broader media landscape. And alternative media and social movement scholars have discussed how activists engage with communication inside and outside social movements. These two conversations---one about grassroots media that represent ethnic or gendered communities and another about activist media that address social movement agendas---are brought together in this dissertation. This research looks at media that emerged during a robust time of research and practice in U.S. journalism and communication history. The global push for civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s influenced activists and journalists who in turn founded media outlets. Some publications from this time lasted only a few years. But others published longer. The International Examiner, serving Pan-Asian and Asian American communities, and the Seattle Gay News, serving gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities, are two examples of user-generated, political communication from this era. Each published in Seattle, Washington. Each published for more than thirty-five years. Interviews with newspaper workers, qualitative content analysis of newspapers, and examination of archival records suggest several nuances about their loyalties to community, activism, and journalism, as well as patterns about how each newspaper organization changed over time. There are several ideas discussed in this project that media and communication scholars interested in journalism history, media organizations, and political communication should think about. First, alternative media's friendlier relationship between movement and media appear to influence how these media operate and what is produced as content. Second, publications might balance a duality of memberships---community and journalism, and community and activism. Third, alternative media's critique of dominant journalism practices, such as stereotyping and prioritization of stories, might also involve engaging mainstream media and their audiences. Fourth, alternative media sometimes criticize factions within their own communities as they balance their loyalties to journalism and political leanings. Fifth, grassroots, activist newspapers might change over time via phases, such as sponsoring, separating, stabilizing, and surviving. And finally, organizational structures and choices can shape how these media develop over time and possibly survive. |
