‘ Global Civil Society ’ and Alternative Online News: The Case of OhmyNews International and Groundreport

Abstract

In this chapter, the focus on news practices shifts from mainstream news outlets to global alternative news outlets that have emerged specifically with the development of the internet. It is undoubtedly the case that the currency that has seemingly been granted to a concept of an emerging GCS has to a large extent centred on developments in new information technology that have produced new forms of mediating information and in this case news. Indeed, it may be argued that much of the enthusiasm and critical currency surrounding the notion of GCS has come from the perceived possibilities of the internet over and above developments in mass media. A significant reason why the internet has been received with such enthusiasm in debates on democratic practice is because it is largely seen to have emerged, unlike offline counterparts, as a medium not traditionally confined to or contextualised by national systems. What is more, by its inherent structure it is argued to cater for immediate interactivity and the dissolution of producer/user boundaries. As such, it is seen to challenge established understandings of democratic practice by transforming the spatial and temporal aspects of political activity and, indeed, who can participate in and in what way participation can occur in shaping such activity. What is under scrutiny in this chapter, therefore, is the way in which developments in news specifically online encourages such a reading of social and political transformations.