Separatist media

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Separatist media is a term that reflects the positive choice to put resources into the creation of media by and for a systematically discriminated-against group of people.

(Note: Discussion below is US-based but feel free to broaden it to include examples and discussion of separatist media outside the US as well.)

Discussion

For instance, in the US, a historically black media developed in the 19th and 20th centuries, including newspapers, books, films, music, radio, and live entertainment venues (theaters and nightclubs). In the 1970s the women's movement developed a separatist media movement. The women's movement included women's music festivals (most famously the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival), singers dedicated as lesbian singers or women's music, a feminist bookstore network and a number of women's presses, a smaller movement of women's theatrical groups and orchestras. The gay liberation movement followed suit, often emerging from or merging into women's bookstores and presses.

Other movements, such as political movements, religious media, and the punk/DIY, riotgrrl, and zines movements, have developed their own media because of critiques of the "mainstream media", typically political critiques. These media are more usually described as "alternative media". The critical distinction is the lack of systematic discrimination against the group as a class. While, for example, leftist perspectives may not be well-covered in the media or may be discriminated-against systematically in the production of the media, the bias against leftist perspectives may be seen to be substantive, based on the content. Racist or sexist bias, on the other hand, is based on a class discrimination against members of that class. Identity-based discriminations typically are reflected not just in the content (e.g., racist or sexist characterizations of people) but in the production (discriminatory hiring practices) and distribution (discriminatory access to the work) as well.

The labor press movement of the late 19th and early 20th century has aspects in common with both "alternative media" and "separatist media".

See:

Separatist media movements and economics emerge from communities of people facing, typically, extreme economic, social, and often legal discrimination. As discriminated-against individuals form a community, they begin critically assessing "mainstream" media for representations of their community, usually finding negative or inaccurate or discriminatory representations. This is accompanied by discrimination in the production of the media, so that the community's access to that sector of the economy is also limited. Community members responsively develop their own media, which provides several benefits.

  1. Media may be better-targeted to the community in some way: more affordable, more locally-specific, with information or issues of particular interest to that community
  2. Non-discriminatory access to professional work in that field, so that people can gain training and experience in, for instance, directing films, producing sound recordings, print journalism, acting, editing; that experience then helps them break into the dominant/mainstream media if they choose, or gives them an alternative career path
  3. Alternative depictions of the discriminated-against group and the others. These could include non-sexist or non-racist depictions of the group itself, or they could turn the sexism and racism on the oppressing group.
  4. Economic benefits - By offering consumers a non-discriminatory choice in the market, people can build their own economy rather than draining it to support the larger discriminatory economy.
  5. Development of distinctive media formats, motifs, themes, etc. . By focusing on smaller audiences, artists may have more freedom to develop new genres, forms, formats, motifs, themes, and kinds of works. Experimental work is usually developed for smaller audiences, and works developed for larger audiences may tend to be more artistically conservative.

"Mainstream" media often responds in various ways to separatist or alternative media.

  1. Adoption / co-optation - see, e.g., Sarah Schulman, Stagestruck, discussing cooptation of queer media; see numerous references discussing cooptation of African American music by white America in various ways (Pat Boone covers; white music companies running separatist labels and keeping the copyrights of Black performers; white culture adopting Black style)
  2. Ignore -
  3. Become more diverse

Separatist media has downsides as well, and often suffers critiques from within its own community as well as the various responses from the so-called mainstream media. These critiques are often summed up as a "ghettoization", but ghettoization includes a variety of embedded critiques:

  1. Acceptance of a second-class status instead of reform of the "first-class" media. Ultimately a political question; see below.
  2. Lower-pay, lower-status, lower recognition for participants; writers who publish in feminist or Black presses for instance are less likely to be noticed and win major awards, grants funding, and so on. This is a shoal on which many such media movements fall apart: Creators in the fields who do achieve some success may "graduate" from the separatist/alternative media to the mainstream media. This can be seen as a loss for the separatist/alternative media.
  3. Perpetuates their own discriminatory views against members of the community; for instance, critiques of a black newspaper by other members of the black community who feel it doesn't represent the all members of the community, or has its own outdated or racist views. This critique is somewhat inevitable in an enterprise in a discriminatory social environment: All people involved, producers and consumers, have their own internalized sexism/racism/etc. to deal with, and their own takes on when it is present, and how best to defeat it.
  4. All the criticisms that can come up with any small or independent organization or movement: Dominated by a few key people and their ideologies; too expensive; not widely available; low quality of editing, paper, acting, contributions; too focused on the community issue and not generalist enough; etc. This too is inevitable: independent media is usually less well-funded and less able to produce at the same volume and quality and timeliness. Cheap, fast, or good; pick one or two. In theory, sufficient community support of the media would enable it to grow and rival the "mainstream" media in quality, selection, availability, etc. In practice this is hard but not impossible to do.
  5. "Reverse racism" or "Reverse sexism" -- usually a critique from the out-group (the privileged / discriminating class); can be best seen as an unhelpful response to criticism of discrimination.

Ultimately the question of developing separatist media is one of political tactics, akin to, but not entirely the same as, the reform-or-revolution question. From a pragmatic political perspective, separatist media, whether intended to be revolutionary or reformist in practice, causes a

Race and media in the US

Historically in the US in white media, white actors were often cast as people of color, donning blackface or in other ways trying to code themselves as a person of color. These characterizations were often offensive, relying on the grossest stereotypes, both in make-up and dress and in acting choices. Casting white actors also fostered persistent racism in Hollywood and theatrical circles, leading to segregation in media production and distribution as well as consumption. "White media" -- white films, white music, white newspapers, white books -- was targeted to white audiences, regarded as "mainstream", and was treated as the primary economy by white-dominated businesses, banks, etc. Not coincidentally the most egregiously racist views and depictions of people of color can be found in white media, including the use of white actors in racist portrayals of people of color. "Black media" in the US was a separate economy, often mined by the white media economy, but with little financial support from major white production companies or recognition from white audiences.

Significant racial discrimination against people of color by white media companies and audiences is prevalent not just against African Americans, but against Asian Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Americans as well. (more)

See (numerous organizations on media diversity)

Gender and media in the US

(need to write)

Sexuality and media in the US

(need to write)

Non-US

  • incorporate or write separate sections?
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