“News With a Kick”: A Model of Oppositional Reporting

This article explores uses of reporting techniques by de facto journalists operating within alternative media, paying particular attention to the extent to which people who tend to be marginalized by mainstream journalism may be heard via alternative journalism. The article is based on an empirical study of an online provider of alternative local news operating in one UK city. Drawing on broader conceptualizations of alternative journalism (Atton, [Atton, C., 2002]; Forde, [Forde, S., 2011]), this article proposes a more specific model of “oppositional reporting,” combining pragmatic use of journalistic skills with an ideological critique of the hegemonic discourses of powerful social groupings and mainstream media alike. Oppositional reporting speaks up for the powerless and, at times, allows the powerless to speak directly for themselves.