Summary for 2/14 Class

Eland, Critical thinking, deviant knowledge and the alternative press

This article compared the cons of mainstream media to the pros of alternative news. Eland brought up some interesting discussion points in regards to the media as we know it. He claims that everything we read, see, and hear has already been filtered and molded to meet the requirements of the dominate source which owns that particular media outlet. For this reason Eland claims that what we recognize as a free market is not actually free since the content we receive is being controlled by a third party. The article then explores how newspapers, television, radio, ect are all designed to promote what the owners feel are the most important stories to a certain type of citizen (wealthy, homeowner, white collar, ect). As per Eland we as citizens should turn to more alternative news outlets in order to diversify our media intake. He claims that these sources are more independent and forthcoming then traditional outlets. The controllers of these outlets acknowledge that they are bias and encourage the reader to draw their own conclusions.

• Why are consumers so reluctant to embrace alternative forms of media?
• Is it financially feasible for alternative outlets to cover the basic facts of certain breaking stories when corporations have billions of dollars set aside for that purpose alone?
• What actions would need to be taken to make alternative outlets more attractive to readers, listeners, and watchers?

Zine World, A quick guide to zines

In this article, Fred Wright touches a brief history of zines and survey and analyzes some of their common characteristics. The word “zine” comes from English language word magazine, which itself comes from Arabian word “makhazin” the plural of “makhzan”, meaning storehouse. Zine is self-published periodicals with small press runs, often photocopied, frequently irreverent, and usually appealing to audiences with highly specialized interests.
Larry bob distinguishes Zine from Magazine and says, “Magazines are produced for money; the magazine supplies a demand in the marketplace and would not exist if there were not money to be made from advertisers and readers” and “Zine is uncorrupted by money or the demands of advertisers. It is produced for purer and personal reason”.
Fanzines, that are Fan magazines, science fiction literature, were produced for personal and not financial reasons, like Zine. This significance of “fan magazine” distinguished the publications produced by fans from the “professional newsstand magazines” such as Amazing Stories and Weird Tales, which were referred to as “prozines”—professional magazines.
It’s certain that most zine publishers were readers of fanzines or other zines before they started their own zines, it’s uncertain how familiar, except by rumor, most zine publishers are with these older publications. Nevertheless, many zine publishers have claimed affinity with these older publications, and apparently, like a whisper down the corridors of history, these works, just by the fact that they once existed, serve as both inspiration and influence to many of today’s zines.

• Who was the first publisher of Zines?
• In what year and what country publish first magazine or zine?
• Why there are different kinds of zines?
Wright, The history and characteristics of zines
Zine summary: a zine (pronounced as zeen) is a body of personalized literary work presented in an abstract style. Zines can contain anything, from personal stories to political discussions; there are no rules when it comes to making a zine. Zines are creative in appearance, covered in magazine cut outs, to drawings that go with its containments. The zine can be published in the original hand writing and punctuation, thus leaving any mistakes the author may have done. They are usually self published, non commercial, and are in small circulation. Zines may have a couple of dozen print runs to a few hundred copies. Because of their rarity, they are manly found in large cities in independent book stores and some libraries. Distros (a zine distributor) are also another means of obtaining zines. Distros buy zines from publishers and resell them. There is very little money to be made through zines unlike books. People who make zines mostly just want others to read their ideas and indulge in their creativity.
• Why do you think zines make less money than actual books?
• Why do you think books aren’t so abstract?
• What liberties does an author obtain when using a zine rather than the conventional book?

Ricardo, Harpreet , Jessica