<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article presents the results of a qualitative interview study on citizen opinion writers who are active on a citizen media website in Sweden. The study explores the writers’ experiences of participating in the alternative and citizen media landscape online, their purposes, the benefits and finally what impedes their participation. The results paint a picture of a sole grass-roots writer who aims to reach the broad political sphere using a mix of strategies to participate, oppose the mainstream media or use the Web as a writing gym. The restrictive powers they encounter are associated with mainstream media, commentators and organized debaters. This is discussed as causing a narrower public debate, less participation and less counter-hegemonic content.</p></abstract>

This article presents the results of a qualitative interview study on citizen opinion writers who are active on a citizen media website in Sweden. The study explores the writers’ experiences of participating in the alternative and citizen media landscape online, their purposes, the benefits and finally what impedes their participation. The results paint a picture of a sole grass-roots writer who aims to reach the broad political sphere using a mix of strategies to participate, oppose the mainstream media or use the Web as a writing gym. The restrictive powers they encounter are associated with mainstream media, commentators and organized debaters. This is discussed as causing a narrower public debate, less participation and less counter-hegemonic content.

Battling Mainstream Media, Commentators and Organized Debaters: <italic>Experiences from Citizens’ Online Opinion Writing in Sweden</italic>

Department of Arts, Communication and Education

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Battling Mainstream Media, Commentators and Organized Debaters: 

This article presents the results of a qualitative interview study on citizen opinion writers who are active on a citizen media website in Sweden. The study...

Battling Mainstream Media, Commentators and Organized Debaters: Experiences from Citizens’ Online Opinion Writing in Sweden

Published Online: Dec 18, 2014

Page range: 77 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2014-0016

Keywords
citizen journalism, alternative media, opinion, Internet, counter-hegemony, media participation

© 2014 Sofia Larsson

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Battling Mainstream Media, Commentators and Organized Debaters: Experiences from Citizens’ Online Opinion Writing in Sweden

Published Online: Dec 18, 2014

Page range: 77 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2014-0016

Keywordscitizen journalism, alternative media, opinion, Internet, counter-hegemony, media participation

© 2014 Sofia Larsson

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
citizen journalism, alternative media, opinion, Internet, counter-hegemony, media participation