People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements

By Bob Ostertag

Book Overview

America was born in an act of rebellion, and protest and dissent have been crucial to our democracy ever since. Along the way, movements for social justice have created a wide array of pamphlets, broadsides, newsletters, newspapers, and even glossy magazines. In People's Movements, People's Press , Bob Ostertag brings this hidden history to light, examining the publications of the abolitionist, woman suffrage, gay and lesbian, and environmental movements, as well as the underground GI press during the Vietnam War. This fascinating story takes us from the sparse, privately owned media environment of the nineteenth century to the corporate media saturation of the present. Within these publications, we find powerful debates about the direction of a movement; impassioned cries for rights and civil liberties; lonely voices reaching out to others after being alienated by the mainstream press and the unaccepting world around them; and demands that now seem surprisingly reasonable but were at one time quite revolutionary. With both plain language and rigorous scholarship, Ostertag tells the story not only of the publications but the many colorful characters who created them. The story of the social justice movement press is deeply intertwined with the story of the movements themselves. In fact, Ostertag shows how reliance on the printed word fundamentally shaped what we now know as social movements. People's Movements, People's Press , then, offers a new view--from the ground up--of social transformation in America and raises the question of how social movements will change as they move from print to the Internet as their primary means of communication. As large corporations take over every media outlet available, People's Movements, People's Press reminds us of the great value and historical importance of independent, activist-driven media.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807061662
• ISBN13: 9780807061664
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and Surprising

I came with complete naivete to this book, and was delighted to discover that it is a fascinating read about many different press movements. The section on the GI underground press, for example, was very surprising, and transformed my view of the Viet Nam war. I recommend this book!

An intriguing work on and about the impact of "counterculture journalism".

People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism Of Social Justice Movements by Bob Ostertag (Associate Professor of Technocultural Studies at University of California, Davis) is an intriguing work on and about the impact of "counterculture journalism". Beginning with the nineteenth century struggles of abolitionist and suffragist newspaper forums and journalist advocacy, Ostertag continues on with gay and lesbian press, the underground GI press during the Vietnam war, and the environmental movement journalism of the past few decades. Ostertag draws upon material from obscure but powerful publications such as the 'Revolution,' 'The Advocate,' 'HomoCore,' 'LA Free Press', 'Vietnam GI,' and 'The (Fort) Lewis-McChord Free Press to illustrate how independent journalists have shaped the history of diverse social justice movements. In an age when corporate journalism is almost all that is available in the "mainstream press", People's Movements, People's Press is clearly a book whose time is come. Ostertag closes with an especially interesting chapter that pays tribute to the Independent Press Association which was founded in 1996 by John Anner for the purpose of supporting independent publishing. In it, Ostertag speaks eloquently of the need for media reform beyond any thus far attempted. Highly recommended reading for academic library Journalism Studies reference collections, as well as social activist reading lists, People's Movements, People's Press documents relatively recent journalist history which has almost been 'lost' by the current generation who take a free press for granted.