Inspiring Social Change through Independent Media

Case Studies on Bulatlat and Konde.co

Abstract

Considering independent media to be live social movements, this article examines the present development of the Philippines’s Bulatlat and Indonesia’s Konde.co and several key issues and challenges encountered by the dynamic independent media outlets in Southeast Asia. As media organizations/platforms founded by activists who strive to counteract the “dominant media” in a society, independent media provide the public with alternative news stories, facilitating media freedom and social progress. However, operating outside the establishment – the entire hierarchical structure representing power, independent media stimulate the sensitive nerves of conservative forces. For instance, certain members of Bulatlat witnessed frequent harassment and intimidation by state agencies; a public event held by Konde.co was interrupted by a fundamentalist cleric. Despite integrating their work with social media, Bulatlat and Konde.co are not free from external interference owing to their reliance on the Internet – a medium that is in fact invented and governed by political institutions. The two independent media cases show that it is necessary for independent media activists to develop new means of social movement practice for freedom of speech, by which the influence of established powers on their work can be minimized to the greatest possible extent.