Alternative Media: Possibility or Problem?

Over the years, the so-called alternative media have been joining the country’s sporting and non-sporting spectacles, many of them with great reach on social media and an audience loyalized by the content they generate — content that on not a few occasions is more immediate and attractive than that of official media.

The practice of Journalism and Communication bases its fundamental pillars on principles such as truthfulness, immediacy, objectivity, and responding to problems that afflict our society.

The line separating the official from the alternative often passes through something as simple as an accreditation or a statute.

It is no secret to anyone that alternative media exist and will not stop doing so even if some insist on putting up obstacles and hindering their work.

In the case of the national pastime, pages such as Somos los Cachorros, La Banda Yumurina, Tigres Avileños, Por la Goma, among others, carry out work that is greatly liked by the population for being on top of the latest, as the popular vocabulary says.

The Matanzas Crocodiles and La Banda Yumurina are two social media pages that are in charge of disseminating the daily events of the local nine.

One of the questions I ask myself daily is: why not create a mechanism that allows this type of initiative to have some accreditation?

During the selection of reinforcements for the summer tournament, some words from the national baseball commissioner, Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, came to light, in which he expressed that many of these pages disseminated information that generated confusion among fans.

And it is true that some social media pages disseminate information that is not backed by an official statement, but it is also true that the communicative aspect of some organizations is slow.

We must not demonize the work of those who, with good intentions and few resources, try to enrich our much-battered sport.

In pursuit of a communication where both alternative and official media work jointly to inform as closely to the truth as possible, it is urgent to create the mechanisms that regulate both media.

As long as we continue to see unconventional initiatives as the enemy and the negative part, the debate will continue as to whether they are an alternative or a problem.