CITATION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Cite as: Huesca, R. (1999). Between diversity and solidarity: The challenge of incorporating difference into media practices for social change. The Electronic Journal of Communication [On-line serial] 9 (2, 3, & 4).
© The Electronic Journal of Communication (1999).

ABSTRACT:
Research accounts of alternative media practices—those media production activities that strive to be democratic in structure while advocating for social change—are largely descriptive of homogeneous, unified, and integrated practices. This article focuses explicitly on alternative media practices in terms of how they deal with pluralism and heterogeneity in the process of producing media content. Specifically, this article examines a well-known alternative media genre—the radio stations operated by Bolivian tin miners—with regard to how these broadcasters conceptualized and responded to “difference” in their everyday activities. The Sense-Making Methodology was used as method and also meta-theoretically to generate an analytic template refocusing the examination of alternative media from an emphasis on homogeneous practice to an examination of how media practices implement differences procedurally. Conclusions emphasize that a communication- as- procedure analytic is useful both for distinguishing alternative from mainstream media practices and for designing media practices that are responsive to pluralistic, heterogeneous, and diverse societies.

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