When the watchdogs of journalism were playing « alternative

We never considered it useful to criticize media that seemed closer to us than those commonly called « mainstream ». If we refused to name them explicitly and to critically address their editorial line, we did not prevent ourselves in some of our analyses from situating this so-called « alternative », « independent » or « inclusive » press. It’s time to take stock. If so-called alternative publications, or even « slow press », which comment on the world, sometimes do interesting journalistic work, there remains something contradictory, even insoluble in the very idea of doing something else: how indeed to coexist peacefully alongside the mass press without criticizing it? How to work in both, without experiencing dissonance⁽¹⁾, but also without being disturbed by the dominant media that contribute to part of their income? The explanation is not complicated. The coexistence is quite serene because this alternative press does not oppose the mass press, but is part of its continuity. It is …