hand, is a persistent issue raised by both proponents and dissenters. “Cultural contexts and meanings” change rapidly, accommodating the democratic needs and movement the public is demanding. Although the Internet has significantly contributed, independence of “idea circulation” is not guaranteed, as it lacks “reliable” sources of funding and technologies. Silverstone underlines the need to “understand how meanings emerge” in media and their interference through mediation. Along with the problems mentioned above, we tend to overlook the contextual reliability issues when focusing on its political significance. Downing argues that radical media are politically “prefigurative,” openly displaying ideologies in a “populist manner” as an “activist tool.” Thus, reliability is compromised by a subjective interpretation of ‘ordinary.’ Atton and Couldry explore the matter in comparison to its counterpart. While mass media establishes symbolic powers based on professionalism and its receptive-spectatorship, radical alternative media's reliability comes from audience's active engagement, ‘participatory-editorship,’ where audiences take part in shaping the story through interaction with the authors. See also Read more Alternative media Alternative media (U.S. political left) Alternative media (U.S. political right) Citizen journalism Citizen media Community radio Independent media Media activism Media democracy Media justice Mass media Open publishing Pirate radio Pirate television Tactical media Radical media channels Democracy Now! Independent Media Center InfoWars List of independent television stations in the U.S. New Internationalist OhmyNews Project Chanology Positive News Community Media Association Independent World Television Independent Media Center Related academics Chris Atton Rodney Benson John DH Downing Jean Burgess Reference List External links The VideoVoice Collective does research and evaluation on participatory video. TNKRTV Media Democracy Day Media Democracy Project Center for Media and Democracy Demosphere Project – The wiki & global project to develop a community based media framework using open source and interactive software. (Wikinews article) Freedom of Expression, UNESCO Alternative media Types of journalism Mass media