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

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!

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.